"Failure to update the matching funds component of the law to reflect modern realities would marginalize voters by making the Legislature for sale to the highest bidder," the Times Record <http://www.timesrecord.com/articles/2011/12/05/opinion/editorials/doc4edd04d02d33c159554599.txt>  in Maine editorializes on the state's Clean Elections system. Our David Donnelly, who ran the Clean Elections ballot initiative campaign, points out this was the first paper to endorse the plan back then.

Campaign Finance/Fair Elections
Will foreigners decide the 2012 election? The extreme unintended consequences of Citizens United
Read Rick Hasen's piece Bluman v. FEC, a case being SCOTUS is deciding whether to hear, "that concerns the rights of foreign non-citizens living in the U.S to spend money in U.S. elections."

If voters owned elections
Democracy Matters ED and Public Campaign board chair Joan Mandle has this op-ed in Syracuse on the need for public financing in New York State.

Congress/2012
John Thune holding New York fundraiser day after vote on Wall Street regulator
Sen. Thune, who is expected to vote against the Rich Cordray nomination on Thursday, will be in NYC for a fundraising trip over the weekend. What kind of donors you think will be there?

Perry phoned top donors ahead of presidential bid
It's totes a coincidence that the people on Rick Perry's official calling list are also big donors. One was the guy who started a super PAC.

Roemer slams Huntsman on super PAC
"I mean I have a big imagination but I just can't imagine that father and son don't talk," Buddy Roemer says on the super PAC being funded by Jon Huntsman's dad.

Accused, Spencer Bachus offers anti-"insider" bill
"Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) — in the midst of battling allegations of insider trading — has introduced legislation that would require members to place their assets in blind trusts run by independent managers."

In race for campaign funds from billionaires, Romney outpaces Obama
Ugh: "The Republican presidential primary contest isn’t over, but in the race to line up the richest donors, it’s Mitt Romney vs. President Obama."

Gingrich has long way to go to catch Romney on K Street
"Grass-roots Republicans may be flocking to Newt Gingrich in key primary states, but when it comes to winning over establishment Washington, D.C., the former Speaker still has a long way to go to catch former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney."
- More on this topic from Politico: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/69831.html

Herman Cain super PAC mulls money
What's a super PAC to do when its candidate drops out of the race?

Fundraising gains new urgency for Gingrich camp
Gingrich is surging, but he doesn't have any money or an infrastructure to raise it.

Libyan oilman who promoted Gadhafi back in the influence game
"A Libyan businessman who helped pay for public relations work that promoted former dictator Moammar Gadhafi is back in the influence game on behalf of Libyan refugees and freedom fighters."

Dems: IG probing NLRB allegations
Good: "An investigation has been opened into whether a Republican member of the National Labor Relations Board received improper enticements to resign and incapacitate the agency, according to Democrats on the House Education and the Workforce Committee." I'd love to see if he in fact did receive enticements, if any were from lobby shops.

Other
Occupy Elkton protests corporate influence
In Elkton, Oregon (population 195), protesters are standing up to corporate influence in elections.