The amount of political power that lawmakers wield has long been tied to their ability to make dollars rain down from political contributions. While no one would defend the crass trades sought by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, in some ways his crimes consisted of simply making the implicit arrangements that...

Late Friday, a letter sent from Federal Election Commission (FEC) nominee Hans von Spakovsky to the White House officially withdrawing his name from consideration was made public. This is undoubtedly good news as the election season kicks into high gear, and will help to assure that the FEC will...

Sen. Barack Obama's comments last week provided grist for renewed speculation about whether or not he will accept public financing for the general election. With no apparent sense of irony, he said to a roomful of donors at a high-ticket fundraiser that "we have created a parallel public financing...