Will Florida soon do away with its matching program of public financing for state candidates? The program, which exchanges spending caps for matches on individual contributions, has been under attack for sometime. Since it was passed by voters it has been weakened by opponents eager to get rid of the spending caps.

The people trying to kill the system cite budget reasons, despite the fact that in the year when the most was spent on public financing it amounted to just $11 million out of a budget of $64.7 billion. A better idea than simply tossing any effort at corralling the influence of special interest money is to pursue a full-fledged Clean Elections program that goes even further than a matching program to empower small donors and open the doors to greater candidate diversity. And in a state than has practically become synonymous with voter fraud, is it not worth investing resources in electoral reform that stands a chance at restoring voter confidence in candidates and in the process?

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist shouldn't waffle about the value of public financing -- the matching program helped put him in office -- he should come out in favor of an even better public financing model: Clean Elections.