• More than 75% of Connecticut candidates will opt for public funding at first opportunity
• New Jersey passes National Popular Vote
• Common Cause pushes in Iowa, presidential candidates endorse full public financing
• Common Cause Rhode Island hosts two governors, wins media praise
• Poll on Judicial Public Financing in Wisconsin
• Former Congressman Jim Leach will chair the Common Cause National Governing Board

Happy New Year +1!

The first contest of the presidential election season, the Iowa caucuses, is 24 hours away.  If you're like me--ruggedly handsome, mildly caffeinated, closely following the presidential race--then you probably want to know whether these candidates will work to restore our democracy by getting big money out of politics, right?

You're in luck.  We've compiled their stances, including a few audio clips, so you can see where each one stands on congressional public financing as embodied in the Fair Elections Now Act.

If you're not in Iowa... it's okay, go ahead, you can look, too.  It's an important issue and we're fortunate to have a number of contenders who strongly favor public financing.

One related note: Two weeks ago, as I was off on vacation, former Congressman Berk Bedell wrote a stirring op-ed in the Des Moines Register highlighting our effort:

Twenty four hours until the Iowa caucuses.  Congress comes back into session in a few more days.  And money pours into the political race at a pace never before seen.  I expect we'll look back at this as a key moment in the effort to win public financing for the U.S. Congress and to change how we finance elections across the country.

After months of work by staff and volunteers in Iowa, working to get presidential candidates to take a stand on public funding of federal elections, we're poised for a final push.  With folks on the ground and an eye-catching ad in papers around the state, we can make sure that candidates know this: if you committed to public financing we're counting on you, and if you haven't, you're going to pay a price.

But for us to get that message out, we need every dollar we can.  We want to run the ad to the right this weekend.  We've raised enough to place a full-page ad in the Des Moines Register, and we've got our sights set on six more papers around the state of Iowa--but we need a few more contributions to put us over the top.

With a big donor giving a one-to-one match for every dollar raised, now is the best time to help.  And the caucuses are less than three weeks away.

Check out the ad and please contribute whatever you can to get this message out where it counts, throughout Iowa.

For months we've had staff and volunteers working throughout Iowa to get candidates on the record: will they support and work for public financing of campaigns?

The answer, for many of them, is YES.  Six candidates (Biden, Dodd, Edwards, Gravel, Kucinich, and Obama) committed in writing to make full public financing of campaigns, e.g. the Fair Elections Now Act, a priority if they are elected.  And no matter their stance, we've continued to ask them about it, so they know how much it matters to voters.

With three weeks to go before the caucuses, we're making a final push, and we've got a great ad that we want to run in the seven largest papers in Iowa right away.  We've even found a matching donor to help us raise the $52,000 we'll need for the ad and our on-the-ground campaign in the final weeks.

This is a huge moment.  It's a wide open primary, and the nation's political eyes are trained on Iowa.  It's a chance to send a message to the next President of the United States that we've got a huge problem with wealthy campaign contributors and their lobbyists running this country, and we demand a change.

We need every $100, $50, and $20 gift that we can muster to make sure we get that message out.  Take a look at the ad and please give if you can--your gift will be doubled, and we'll take advantage of this moment to start changing how we finance elections around this country and bringing about a Fresh Start for Democracy.

• Common Cause launches presidential bird dogging campaign on public financing in Iowa
• Common Cause Indiana's complaint to Allen County Prosecutor triggers felony charges
• Colorado Common Cause participates in interview process for new Director of Elections
• Wisconsin the only state in the nation without 2007-08 budget

I've spent the past two weeks working in Iowa to reach out to activists and organizations here to help get Presidential candidates talking about--and making commitments on--full public financing of campaigns.  This may be the one chance we have in the next four five-plus years for regular people to get in close enough contact with the candidates to bring this issue to their attention.

I find it especially relevant because so many candidates talk about how they'll "change Washington," change the culture, take on the greedy interests, "represent the people," and I'd like them to get into specifics.  And if they really want to do that, well, public financing is the obvious answer.

So I was incredibly refreshed to watch the Yearly Kos presidential forum this weekend and see not one, not two, not three, but at least four--and perhaps all--of the Democratic candidates saying, "we support public financing."

The clip is about eight minutes long, and it's all good, although the part I'm talking about starts at minute four and continues until nearly the end.

But this isn't just my issue.  This makes sense.  For one, voters are smart enough to want a change in Washington and to appreciate a candidate who can get specific about how they'll do it.  Maybe some are satisfied with a sound bite, but caucus-goers in Iowa, primary voters across the country, and even the general population is, I think, wise enough to know a real plan from a platitude.

And oh yeah, we also polled the public last year and found that to be overwhelmingly true: 74% of voters support full public financing of campaigns.

It's not just a good change for democracy, it's a good policy to promote if you want to get elected.  I hope the candidates catch on; I hope they paid attention to that sustained applause and partial standing ovation that Chris Dodd received when he mentioned public financing of campaigns at the forum.

In case they didn't, in Iowa we'll continue to ask them.