How I would change the campaign finance laws

[bluestateguy]

Because of how the campaign finance laws are structured, John Kerry had to pull out of Missouri, Virginia and downgrade his efforts in other states. Funds are limited, meaning that come the fall campaign candidates have to make some tough decisions to withdraw from or downgrade their efforts in otherwise winnable states.

For those of you who do not know, when presidential candidates accept federal matching funds for the general election they must limit their spending to just that money once they are formally nominated by their party conventions. They cannot raise and spend money from outside sources. If they were able to do so, they could maintain their campaign efforts in a larger number of states.

Hence, I would make it so that candidates could continue to raise and spend money from private donors during the general election campaign, in addition to the federal matching funds. Keeping the matching funds would prevent presidential candidates from having to spend all their time fundraising, but allowing private donations to continue would allow candidates to remain competitive in more states.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. I'd go for strictly public financing and

equal airtime for all candidates, myself. :)

http://www.geocities.com/greenpartyvoter/electionreform.htm

[baldguy]

2. Public financing

Democracy is a marketplace of IDEAS, not money. Allowing one candidate promote his positions and denigrate those of his opponents - and not allowing the opponents the same opportunity - is detrimental to democracy. The reason is that a candidates success isn't based on the VALUE of his ideas, but on the amount of money he can collect.

Right now, the guy that gets to most money - and subsequently the most media exposure - is immediately assumed to be the front-runner. He usually also ends up being the winner.

Political success in America has nothing to do with the value of political ideas. It goes to the highest bidder. Thats marketing, not democracy.

[0007]

3. Absolutely! I'll second that

[lakeguy]

4. each candidate gets the same amount of federal funding

and that's it. no big donations from corporations or the wealthy and no small donations from those less fortunate. no 527's and bring back the fairness doctrine. how hard can it be???