Chase Foster of Democracy North Carolina writes in the Raleigh News & Observer that the presidential public financing system is "clunky, outmoded" but very necessary provided it gets some updates. Foster suggests looking to North Carolina's Voter Owned Elections and other full public financing programs at the state level as a guide for updates that keep candidates running with public financing competitive against those running with private money.

From Foster's article:

The presidential public financing program needs to better meet the demands of modern campaigns by doling out more money earlier on. We can do this by making primary election money available earlier and more connected to small donor support, so that grass-roots-driven campaigns are rewarded with a 4:1 match on every $50 check. This would make the program far more democratic and dilute the power of a $4,000 check.

Participation in the program should require candidates to refuse all money from PACs and severely limit large contributions. Under the current system candidates can raise hundreds of millions of dollars from big donors and special-interest groups in the primary and still receive public financing in the general, as long as they limit their spending in the fall. A better system would keep this money out and make candidates rely solely on small contributions and the public throughout the entire election process.

The program should provide a matching component to protect candidates from being outspent by nonparticipating candidates and independent groups. Obama would likely be in the program right now if he knew John McCain would receive a dollar match for everything raised over $85 million.