John Edwards has been vocal on the campaign trail about the need to pass full public financing of elections and seriously address the corrosive influence private money has on our political process. With his announcement today that he will suspend his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination we felt it was only right to say something, and urge the remaining Democratic and Republican candidates to make support for full public financing of elections part of their message.

John Edwards has posted his response to our question on Fair and Clean Elections from the 10Questions project.  Our question, voted into the top ten, was sent to all the presidential candidates.  Republican Mike Huckabee was the first to respond, Edwards is the second and he reaffirms his support for full public financing of campaigns.

Presidential candidates are being asked more questions about the ties between the money they take for their campaigns and the decision they'll make in office. As a result, several candidates have taken public stances against traditional big money fundraising, and against lobbyist money. Keep reading for the latest from candidates John Edwards and Dennis Kucinich on the subject.

Why Tuesday?, a project to strengthen elections and democracy, has been asking presidential candidates a series of questions about our electoral system and how to improve it -- here's the video response from John Edwards where he again affirms his support for full public financing of elections.  Good stuff!

John Edwards is officially eligible to receive public financing for his presidential bid having met the qualifying criteria for small dollar donations from a number of states.  As the candidates race towards Iowa, many are watching the Edwards campaign to see how he'll handle the spending limits in the middle of a fierce primary battle.

Michael Dobbs, the "Fact Checker" at the Washington Post devotes today's column to further parsing the assertions of presidential candidates Barack Obama and John Edwards that they would not take money from federal lobbyists. A previous discussion of this topic set off quite a debate among his readers; and he digs into an exploration of where the line is between a donation rooted in conviction, and one rooted in access-buying.