USA Today has consistently supported public financing of elections, and in this article which critiques the influence of special interest money in judicial elections, the paper praises efforts to offer a full public financing option for judicial races.

What's bad for legislative elections is bad for judicial ones -- even more so given the impartiality we expect from those on the bench:

 

Just about everything bad about the way this country elects members of Congress and presidents — the deluge of special interest money, sleazy attacks and last-minute TV blitzes by secretive groups — is now part of contests for state high courts. Only the effect is more corrosive. It looks as if justice is for sale.

The piece mentions North Carolina's leadership in publicly financing judicial races, and New Mexico's recent adoption of the program. Other states, like Georgia, Washington, and Montana, have also been considering this solution.