Reverend Dennis Sparks of the West Virginia Council of Churches wants Clean Elections in his state, and he's pushing hard for what he calls a "Freedom Bill" to make it happen. Read more about his interest and involvement in the West Virginia effort to win full public financing of elections.

Sparks and the Council have been involved in this issue for many years:

Front page on the Huffington Post right now is this piece by Public Campaign's Nancy Watzman about the video question on Fair and Clean Elections which we posted to 10Questions and which is steadily climbing the list.

Many Clean Elections candidates in New Jersey have a reason to celebrate today after yesterday's elections. In the three districts where candidates were eligible to participate in the state's Clean Elections pilot program, all of the winning candidates ran using the system.

A new project called 10Questions is collecting videotaped questions for presidential candidates from people around the country. Visitors to the site give a "thumbs up" to the top ten questions and they will get passed on to the candidates.

Christopher Moylan, a city councilman from Sunnyvale California writes this op-ed in the San Jose Mercury News encouraging a public financing option for municipal campaigns to encourage a more diverse field of candidates and surmount the cost barrier to running for office.

Carol Warren and the West Virginia Citizens for Clean Elections are lobbying their legislature to implement a Clean Elections program for state legislative races. This story in the Charleston Gazette describes their efforts, steady progress toward victory, and the particular program they have outlined.

Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley has called a special session of the Maryland legislature and in so doing has set off a debate about the propriety of legislators holding fundraisers which involve stakeholders in the legislation they're debating. Holding fundraisers during a special session is legal -- but is it ethical?

Fundraising is banned during normal sessions:

Bret Matthew in his opinion column for the Brandeis Hoot, "The Book of Matthew" (ha) paints a bleak portrait of the modern campaign for public office, and touts Clean Elections as the answer to an electoral process plagued by the buying and selling of influence.

He imagines the evolution of a young candidate who, in order to play the game and win office must become indebted to corporate interests and other sources of big campaign checks:

Well, it would appear we're not the only ones watching the presidential money chase and shaking our heads. Newsday has the practice of bundling in its sights, calling for mandatory disclosure of bundlers first, with a refurbished public financing program to follow.

James Sample of the Brennan Center applauds Connecticut for turning the corner with its new Clean Elections program, which received an early trial this week in a special election to succeed State Rep. Richard Beldon, who passed away earlier this year. The two candidates for Beldon's seat in the 113th district, Republican Jason Perillo and Democrat James Orazietti, ran under the new full public financing program.