Even as votes are still being counted in close races around the country, speculation on reforms to counter the high-cost, special-interest dominated election process is being offered up. Writers at both the Chicago Sun-Times and the Winston-Salem Journal cite the Voters First Pledge, its principles and signers, as showing the way forward.

Cindy Richards of the Sun-Times zeroes in on all that money buys in political contests, and the consequences of that money war to the voters. She highlights Illinois candidates who signed the Voters First Pledge and closes with the question we must put to the incoming members of the 110th Congress: "Will the winners be serving the people who elected them or the people who paid for them?"

The Journal also highlights the Voters First Pledge and its North Carolina signers, citing North Carolina's opportunity to embrace public financing at both the state and national levels in the coming year.