Since we may lose seats in the 2010 election, are there any plans to implement public financing of elections during the 111th congress?
Legislation that empowers small donors with 2-1, 4-1 or 8-1 matching contributions for individual donations below $100-250 could vastly reduce the power that corporations play in our politics, and it could also help politicans focus more on passing bills than on fundraising.
I know Obama has sponsored legislation when he was a senator to implement public financing of elections, and I believe it was legislation to empower small donors with matching grants.
Have any senators or house members put out a bill for the 111th congress to get this done? Is Durbin going to introduce his legislation in this session? Does anyone know when?
What about getting it passed, have any members of the GOP (aside from Specter) shown an interest in this?
In 2008 Obama raised $500 million in the form of 6.5 million donations from 3 million people. Of those the average amount was $80. However I don't know how many of those are truly 'small donations' or if those numbers are skewed by most people giving $50 and a few hundred thousand giving $1000.
I know Act Blue raises hundreds of millions. If we had matching grants for small donors, it would empower the netroots to become a far bigger funder of politicians and make passing progressive legislation much easier.