Crazy story on the real impact of voter ID laws: 84 year old woman in Wisconsin, born without a birth certificate, can't vote until she pays money to get the clerk to create one--something that could cost from $20 to $200.

Campaign Finance/Fair Elections
Restore democracy to the people with 28th amendment, by John Bonifaz
Op-ed by Bonifaz on the need for a constitutional amendment: "We must fight for a 28th Amendment — a People’s Rights Amendment — to make clear that corporations are not people, and that people, not corporations, govern."
- Op-ed from a NM state senator on the same subject.

Bad to worse in New York
Albany Times-Union editorial calling for reform in NY--including public financing

Congress/2012
After Occupy DC marches on Democratic fundraiser, Rep. Donna Edwards says it's time to Occupy America
Donna Edwards gets it: And it’s time for us to occupy America. [...] I’ve been a long-time advocate for public funding of elections. I think if the American people don’t own our elections, then the special interests do."

Michele Bachmann lobbied for campaign donor's pardon
The headline sort of says it all.
- And ProPublica has a whole series on presidential pardons.

White House pushes for confirmation of consumer watchdog nominee
Looks like Obama's consumer protection bureau nominee will get a vote in the Senate on Thursday.
- More from Roll Call.

Bachmann sharpens attacks on Gingrich
Bachmann is hitting Newt for his K Street ties.

Heads in the sand
A look at climate change denialism in Congress spends a few paragraphs looking at the money from fossil fuel companies pouring into races.

K Street courting
"With Congress' legislative agenda winding down, K Street lobby shops have begun wooing senior Senate Republican aides to leave the Hill now so the lobbyists-to-be can ride out their one-year bans during the upcoming election year."

Herman Cain's exit gives him financial flexibility
Herman Cain "suspended" his campaign on Saturday, which "has no legal meaning under Federal Election Commission rules, meaning Cain could continue to raise contributions and spend money until declaring a formal end to the campaign."
 
Dan Boren, Oklahoma lawmakers, shares in gas field bounty
A look at Dan Boren's support for natural gas interests in Congress and the personal benefits he gets from the industry back home.

Huntsman's cash-poor campaign gets help from father
A look at the outside help being provided by the Huntsman clan to boost his numbers in New Hampshire.

Oil execs to Romney: Life was better under Bush
Oil companies and Mitt Romney are buttering each other up.

Wall Street gears up to stop Elizabeth Warren
The bankers are nervous about Elizabeth Warren--and they're out to get her.

Buying influence: Mary Bono Mack among lawmakers who bring in cash with joint fundraising panels, pass it along to cohorts
On Mary Bono Mack and her "joint fundraising committee." "Nine wealthy contributors and their spouses, including at least one billionaire and a woman legendary in Texas ranching, are driving a large portion of Rep. Mary Bono Mack's political fundraising."

Jesse Jackson Jr. cited Obama Senate seat deal
"Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., (D-Ill.) was willing to trade campaign donations for appointment to the Senate seat being vacated by Barack Obama, according to a just-released report from the Office of Congressional Ethics."
- More from the Times.

As Occupiers protest Democrats, Democrats court occupiers
"Congressional Democrats still haven't quite figured out how to harness the energy behind the Occupy Wall Street movement for political gain, but they nevertheless are incorporating the group into their messaging as a way to maintain ties with the leftist protesters."

Congress cooks up a bad deal for school lunches
Great editorial on the "pizza is a vegetable" debacle. "It's hardly breaking news that Congress is in the pocket of powerful lobbies for guns, banks and seniors. But you'd hope that when it came to healthier meals for hungry kids, lawmakers would do the right thing. Of course, low-income children don't vote or have PACs."
- More from the NYT here.

Evict the lobbyists, not the Occupy movement
Great letter from California: "It is the lobbyists we should be forcibly evicting, not these mostly-peaceful protesters whose lives have been ruined by decades of backdoor deals and corruption on the part of the former."

The "fourth branch" has usurpted the fourth estate
Has lobbying become the fourth branch of government? As this op-ed states, "Yet it becomes clearer each year that lobbying is usurping journalism in affecting governance."

Other
Square-off over corporate clout at Capitol
Watch our friend John Loredo take on ALEC in Arizona.
- A look at ALEC in Texas, with a quote from Common Cause.

Cenk Uygur takes second shot at the cable news game
Uygur is getting a Current TV show. "The big stories Uygur intends to focus on are campaign finance reform and broader financial reform."

Jack Abramoff, still hustling
The Atlantic interviews Abramoff.