The New York Times yesterday published a great editorial standing up for Arizona's Clean Election system, part of which is currently being debated in the Courts. According to the Times:

Public Campaign issued a press release today in response to the announcement that the U.S. Supreme Court would hear arguments in McComish v. Bennett, the lawsuit aiming to gut Arizona’s successful and popular Clean Elections program.

The millennials, those of us who grew up in the 1990s and 2000s got a lot of attention in the 2008 election cycle. Yes we were excited about the 2008 election, but were we actually going to cast our ballot on Election Day?

Clean Elections programs expanded in this week’s election as voters in six states showed their approval of the system that gives citizens greater authority of their government. At least 376 Clean Elections officials were elected on Tuesday, and that number could grow as more election results are determined. See the full release here.

Arizona

Trying to leave behind his involvement in the Keating Five scandal, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and his advisers today declared the whole thing was a "political smear job," and it didn't really go down how anybody says it did.

Well, as the Google tells us, there is someone that disagrees with Sen. McCain. That would be Sen. McCain.

A PBS producer and a writer have collaborated on a book, Your America that chronicles the work of accidental activists -- ordinary Americans who saw injustice and fought to fix it, creating successful grassroots movements for change in the process. One of the stories told is that of Jackie Thrasher a Clean Elections supporter in Arizona who went on to win a seat in the state House of Representatives.

From the MSNBC article on the book that mentions Thrasher:

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.

Arizona legislator David Burnell Smith, kicked out of office for violating the Clean Elections system, is trying to win his seat back. This time around, he's not running Clean.

It's crisis time in the Republican House.

Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Charlie Bass (R-NH) are circulating a letter calling for new leadership elections. They need 50 to force an election.

I'll give more details when I get them.

UDPATE: Roll Call has the story, courtesy of FiredUpAmerica.

UPDATE 2: There's an easier way: DeLay ought to resign.