Sen. Hillary Clinton’s (D-N.Y) nomination as Secretary of State has opened up a vacancy with no dearth of applicants in the Empire State.

In the Washington Post today, the reporter and his sources handicap the race. And what was one of the requirements? Fundraising prowess. To be more exact, the candidate must be able to raise an estimated $35 million for their 2010 election to keep the seat.

This morning as I was reading through my newspapers, I noticed the ad below on the back page of Roll Call, "the newspaper of Capitol Hill."

On November 4th, Maine voters elected 158 Clean Elections candidates to serve in the next session of the General Assembly. That's 85 percent of lawmakers free from the influence of special interest campaign contributions.

Yesterday in Maine, Public Campaign Action Fund member Dorothy Many asked in a letter to the editor whether Maine Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins will show leadership in pushing the Maine Clean Elections model for Congressional races.

President-Elect Barack Obama's incredible ability to generate small online donations has some members of Congress thinking they can apply his methods to their campaigns. That flies in the face of reality.

So we now have more support for Fair Elections, or full public financing of elections, in Washington, D.C. than ever before.

In Congress, more than 118 members are on the record in support of public financing. President-Elect Barack Obama has supported the issue for years, all the way back to his days in the Illinois senate.

Congressman Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.), already in trouble on corruption charges, received more bad news yesterday. Federal prosecutors added new counts to his indictment, including "racketeering, making a false statement on a tax return and other counts to an indictment against Arizona Congressman Rick Renzi.

In the ongoing saga surrounding Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.), the 4th Circuit Appeals court ruled against Jefferson today, refusing to throw out most of the 16 charges against him.

Jefferson had tried to get many of the charges thrown out. Unless Jefferson appeals the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, the trial is set to begin in 2009.

Here's a reminder of the charges:

The Center for Responsive Politics reports today that the average cost of winning a House race in 2008 was $1.1 million. And that $1 million, more often than not, decided who was going to be victories on Tuesday.

According to CRP:

It’s down to the wire and candidates on both sides of the political aisle are trading barbs on corruption and campaign contributions.

From day one, members of Congress must spend time raising enough money to prepare for their next election, be it two years away or six. And the fundraising doesn't stop--even if you're in a safe seat or facing no opposition. The Washington Times reported yesterday on those members with "safe seats," or no opposition and the fundraisers they continue to have.