MN state Sen. John Marty: We should demand campaign reform

[no name no slogan]

This is from last Sunday's Minneapolis Star Tribune. Marty makes a very good argument for not taking PAC money, and "walking the walk" while "talking the talk".

link: http://www.startribune.com/stories/562/4212621.html

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As a senator, I have been fighting for reform. But, as a candidate, the question was, should I take special interest money to win? Or should I "unilaterally disarm" and reject money that other candidates accept? I concluded that candidates who use special interest money to get elected cannot fully challenge those interests...

In the presidential race, we are losing ground. Instead of candidates imposing tighter limits on themselves, we see them opting out of voluntary limits. It was clear from the start that President Bush would raise record amounts and ignore the limit. Howard Dean planned to abide by the limits, but changed his mind...

...I understand the dilemma Dean faced. If he abided by the limits he would have little money to respond to Bush's massive expenditures between the primary season and the start of the fall campaign. He is rejecting the limits in order to level the playing field with President Bush, though it gives him an unlevel field with his Democratic opponents.

To his credit, Dean focuses on small donors. If he would voluntarily stick to the limits until after the nominee is obvious, holding additional money to respond to Bush afterwards, it might be justifiable.

</snip&rt;

And now that Kerry has also chosen to forego spending limits, I seriously wonder if we, as Democrats, will be able to hammer Shrub as the "candidate from Enron" when our own candidates will be doing the exact same thing.

Everybody should LET THEIR CANDIDATE KNOW that we CAN'T win by "outBushing Bush" but by sticking to our message of justice and economic opportunity.

DON'T run Bush's race, because he's the only one who will win.