The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle devotes today's "Friday faceoff" column to opposing views on Clean Elections. The Clean Elections supporter touts the value in cutting the cord between special interest money and legislators, the detractor doesn't like the requirements placed on third party candidates.

Elizabeth Benjamin at the New York Daily News covers New York City Council member Tony Avella's introduction yesterday of Clean Elections legislation to cover city races, an upgrade on New York's existing matching funds program. The article's a bit dismissive of Clean Elections in general but does mention the precedent for pursuing new campaign finance solutions in the city.

Earlier in the week, our partners in Maryland put a full page ad in the Baltimore Sun highlighting the correlation between electricity deregulation and campaign contributions from the industry. See the ad below:

Even as Connecticut's legislative candidates have the chance to run with Clean Elections public financing for the first time this year, the state legislature is still chewing over ethics and corruption questions. Now they are debating whether to prohibit registered lobbyists from serving on state boards and commissions.

One of the interesting peripheral stories on the presidential campaign has been the innovative online donation strategies of candidates like Sen. Barack Obama and Rep. Ron Paul to recruit small donors to their effort. This Los Angeles Times story talks about what that shift in strategy has yielded for Obama, and what it means for a move away from traditional big donors politics.

Ray Metcalfe writes at the Alaska Report that the state is the victim of "institutionalized corruption" on the part of its legislators that has put money in the pockets of a few, at the expense of honest public servants. The Goodfellas poster mock-up is pretty funny.

I could scratch my head until I hit grey matter and I still wouldn't understand this one. James Bopp Jr., a lawyer with a history of challenging campaign finance limits, has filed suit alleging that New York City's new limits on donations from industries that do business with the city is discriminatory against...minority candidates. Points for creativity, Mr. Bopp, but the logic leaves something to be desired.

There's been a lot of talk about the rising power of the small donor in this presidential campaign, from the talk of Barack Obama's large internet fundraising base to Ron Paul's record-breaking online contribution numbers. This article in Business Week investigates the small donor narrative and finds that, for all the hype, big donors are still where the power lies.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has agreed to hear arguments on the so-called "millionaire's amendment" to the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act (BCRA, aka McCain-Feingold). The millionaire's amendment exempts candidates facing wealthy self-financing opponents from certain federal campaign contribution limits established in BCRA.

Language is a tricky thing, as signature gatherers for two very different ballot initiatives in Alaska are learning. The first, the Clean Elections initiative would offer candidates for the state legislature a full public financing option for their races. The second, the Anti-Corruption initiative would explicitly forbid public financing of elections. Be careful which one you sign.