Mary Ann Lindley of the Tallahassee Democract gives a "tip of the hat" to Florida state Sen. Alex Villalobos for declaring his support for public financing of campaigns and I in turn tip my hat to Lindley for a well-written editorial on why it's high time we address how campaigns are financed, and policy written.

Florida lawmakers are dividing their time between work at the statehouse by day, and working the room at nearby fundraisers by night with more of latter than the former as the dash for cash gets frenzied. A prohibition against soliciting money during the regular session means compressing all the fundraising into a cartoonishly hectic chunk.

Though it doesn't mention the Fair Elections Act by name, this Orlando Sentinel editorial is strongly in favor of a public financing system for congressional elections in the model of Arizona and Maine's Clean Elections programs, arguing that those states offer a much better example than Florida when it comes to reducing the influence of special interest money.

Local press is taking an interest in who is signing the Voters First Pledge. The Charlotte Sun-Herald looks at Florida activists working to get candidates to sign on, and The Capital (see the second section) highlights the Maryland candidates who have pledge to put voters first.

We just sent this email out to our list of activists -- can you believe that Katherine Harris is trying to wash away her legacy with $10 million? Can you believe that she thinks people will forget that she abandoned the principle of oneperson, one vote in 2000? That  somehow spending $10 million makes it okay to have taken illegal campaign contributions. Our petition is here.

Why is this important?Well, to get a lighter sentence, Jack Abramoff has to show that he's cooperating with authorities. Abbe Lowell, his lawyer, says,We will name names. We will provide the public with evidence of what is going on out there,...