As I was checking my Google news alerts this morning, I came across this article from the Arizona Capitol Times highlighting "quotes of the year." One in particular caught my eye.

Public Campaign has released a new report highlighting young people that were elected in Arizona, Connecticut, and Maine using their state’s Clean Elections system.

Clean Elections programs expanded in this week’s election as voters in six states showed their approval of the system that gives citizens greater authority of their government. At least 376 Clean Elections officials were elected on Tuesday, and that number could grow as more election results are determined.

Trying to leave behind his involvement in the Keating Five scandal, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and his advisers today declared the whole thing was a "political smear job," and it didn't really go down how anybody says it did. Well, as the Google tells us, there is someone that disagrees with Sen. McCain. That would be Sen. McCain.

A PBS producer and a writer have collaborated on a book, Your America that chronicles the work of accidental activists -- ordinary Americans who saw injustice and fought to fix it, creating successful grassroots movements for change in the process. One of the stories told is that of Jackie Thrasher a Clean Elections supporter in Arizona who went on to win a seat in the state House of Representatives.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has agreed to hear arguments on the so-called "millionaire's amendment" to the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act (BCRA, aka McCain-Feingold). The millionaire's amendment exempts candidates facing wealthy self-financing opponents from certain federal campaign contribution limits established in BCRA. This article in The Hill notes that the ruling could impact the Clean Elections laws in Arizona and Maine.