In his New York Times column today, Thomas Friedman provides the platform he'd like a presidential candidate to run on. We definitely agree with the last issue:

At protests across the country Occupiers fought back against a political system that too often looks out for their 1% campaign donors, the supercommittee made influencing-peddling easier for special interests, and the Supreme Court once again sided with big money. Those events and more make up our 2011 list of top money-in-politics stories. 

Check out the full list and if you have your own suggestions for items we left off, leave them in the comments below.

1. Occupy’s Message Delivered

Yesterday President Obama participated in a Twitter Town Hall meeting, taking questions from all over the country. Obama responded to one tweet by noting the influence that big money has in Washington, D.C.

President Obama from yesterday: "And public campaign financing is something that I've supported in the past. There is no doubt that money has an impact on what happens here in Washington. And the more we can reduce money's impact on Washington, the better off we're going to be."

The U.S. Supreme Court just issued it's ruling in McComish v. Bennett, striking down the matching funds provisions prevalent in some public financing programs around the country.

The Court did, however, keep the foundation of public financing laws intact.

Check out our ongoing coverage of the decision at http://www.publicampaign.org/mccomishnews.

Last week New York state Comptroller, Tom DiNapoli, proposed legislation that would allow candidates for the Comptroller's office the option of using public financing. The Albany Times Union opined on the proposal yesterday, joining the New York Times in editorializing in favor of the measure.

From the Albany Times Union:

Advocates and members of the State Assembly have begun a push to bring publicly financed Voter-Owned Elections to New York state. The proposed measure is popular with the public, as evidenced by a recent Sienna Poll that found that 70 percent of New Yorkers support publicly financed Voter-Owned Elections.

The Boston Globe (online) has a story on Maine State Senate President and gubernatorial candidate, Libby Mitchel (D), and the Clean Elections system in the state.

“If I qualify, there will be no more fund-raising and I will spend every waking hour campaigning around the state,’’ Mitchell, a Democrat who serves as state Senate president, promised the dozen attendees in Bangor. “I’ll never ask again. When you see me coming, you won’t have to run.’’

This morning on NPR, Peter Overby interviewed several Fair Elections advocates about pushing for public financing of elections in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. FEC. You can listen to the piece below:

Agnes Gund, a philanthropist and major political donor, has an op-ed in today's Politico about Citizens United and the need for Fair Elections.

"I’ve seen firsthand the unsustainable rise in the cost of running for office and how that makes good people spend far too much time “dialing for dollars.” I am often on the other end of these calls.

The New York Times political blog, The Caucus, reports that big donors have wriiten a letter to Speaker Pelosi (D-Calif.) that says enough is enough - it's time to pass Fair Elections style campaign reform.