That was former Senator Warren Rudman's partial explanation, at today's hearing on the Fair Elections Now Act, for how he came around from opposition to "unequivocally supporting public financing" and the Fair Elections bill now before the Senate Rules committee.  Sitting on the second panel, he admitted that he'd grown so frustrated with the dominance of private money in politics that he found public financing to be the most sensible solution.

He wasn't alone.  The bill's cosponsors, Senators Dick Durbin and Arlen Specter, described the same transformation from opponent to champion.  Those conversions are what made today's Senate hearing so promising.

This morning the Durbin-Specter public financing bill is up for a hearing in the Senate Rules committee.  Starting at 10 a.m., you can watch that hearing live online.

The Fair Elections Now Act in the Senate is a critical reform that would upend the big-money-driven political campaign game as we know it.  We're hoping for a good hearing.  More later.

Tomorrow at 10 a.m., the Rules and Administration committee of the U.S. Senate will hold a hearing on the Durbin-Specter Fair Elections Now Act, a bill to create a full public financing system for Senate races.

At the hearing, we'll hear from Senators Durbin and Specter, whose bipartisan leadership will be critical to moving this bill successfully through the Senate.  We'll also hear from Senator Mitch McConnell, an enemy of reform and a fierce advocate for the rights of wealthy individuals and special interests to buy access to lawmakers.  I'm looking forward to that one, oh boy.

The hearing starts at 10 a.m. and is scheduled to last 90 minutes.  You can watch the hearing on streaming video off the Rules committee website, and I'll be back tomorrow afternoon with some thoughts after the dust clears.

Oh by the way, if you haven't already told your Senator that the "Fair Elections" bill (S.1285) needs his/her support, better sign our petition and make a phone call to your Senators' offices today.