Sen. John McCain's lobbyist-heavy staff took another loss today in the wake of news about the less than savory folks those lobbyists used to work for. Eric Burgeson, an energy lobbyist, was fired in accordance with the campaign's new conflict of interest policy.  He worked for a firm that also handled lobbying for Serbia and Qatar according to Ben Smith at Politico.

Public Campaign Action Fund's Executive Director Nick Nyhart reflects on the study of small donors by the Campaign Finance Institute in this piece for the Huffington Post.  As the hype about small donation in the presidential race fails to cut in to big donors influence in congressional races, the best hope to put the balance of power in the hands of small donors remains full public financing of elections, which is what we're asking candidates for Congress to show their support for via the Voters First Pledge.

Well this isn't the best news for the campaign to win Clean Elections in Maryland.  Senate President Mike Miller (D), a staunch opponent of Clean Elections who has obstructed passage of the legislation in the last two legislative sessions, is considering running for office again despite having said previously that this term would be his last.  Miller has been in the state Senate since 1975.  Appropriately enough, Miller may announce his run at a fundraising event.