UPDATE: No hoax. According to ZeroHedge, the man who approached Rick Perry is likely to be James Mahoney, Director of Public Policy at Bank of America (scroll down past the video).

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This past Friday, former Senator and current presidential candidate John Edwards called for public financing of all elections during an interview on Real Time With Bill Maher. Click here to download and watch the clip (2.5 MB).

The Washington Post is calling it an "invisible primary" - the lead-up to the 2008 presidential race in which the competitive candidates will be chosen on the basis of how much early money they can bring in from a small, elite circle of wealthy power players. You can't write a check for $2,000 and promise 100 friends who can do the same? Then your opinion means nothing.