Bill Horne, a college professor in Ohio, argues that we need a congressional public financing bill in an Op-Ed in The Times-Gazette.

Joe Frolik of the Cleveland Plain Dealer talks to Ethan Strimling, state Senator from Maine and Clean Elections candidate, about what he likes about Clean Elections as part of an article on efforts to bring a similar system to Ohio elections.  It looks like the most likely avenue to introduce a public financing program in Ohio would be judicial elections.

We all know that incumbents tend to hold a fundraising advantage over their challengers, but when it comes to candidates for the Ohio Supreme Court, that advantage is staggering. According to Ohio Citizen Action, incumbent judges are outraising their challengers 26-1! Time to even out the playing field with public financing for Ohio judicial races?

Thomas Suddes column in yesterday's Cleveland Plain Dealer is on one hand a criticism of legislative term limits, an on the other hand an examination of the price of doing business, that is giving political contributions, in Ohio: " Object No. 1 of any state legislator in Columbus is, get and stay elected, by collecting donations from Statehouse lobbies, unions and rich people."

Steve Hoffman of the Akron Beacon Journal offers this even-handed assessment of and argument for the Fair Elections Now Act introduced by Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Arlen Specter (R-PA). He sees promise in the policy, but notes the need to underline the ties between campaign finance policy, and action on issues that matter the most to voters.

Last week the Toledo Blade ran a story on the high cost of campaigns keeping people from running for municipal office. In response, our President and CEO Nick Nyhart wrote this letter on the potential for Clean Elections-style full public financing to remove this barrier and allow candidates from diverse backgrounds to seek office in greater numbers.