When I heard that Senator Schumer, the head of the DSCC, was going to be doing a live chat on TPMCafe, I was really hoping that somebody would ask him about campaign finance reform, since that would heavily impact his job. Unfortunately, as a DLC centrist Democrat, I’m afraid that he’s too invested in the Democratic Party’s corporate interests to do anything but hinder real campaign finance reform. I was eager to be proven wrong.
Then I read this question:
One of the most effective things the Democrats could do to ensure success in ’08 (thinking on a purely strategic level, although the benefit to the country as a whole would far outweigh the partisan issues) would be to finally pass campaign reform laws with real meat in them – not window dressing and not partial measures, but something that really gets at the root of the problem. Total public financing might be one idea, if such a thing is really possible. Democrats running for office would be able to point to their courage in fighting for campaign reform and a grateful country would be sure to respond with votes at election time. I’d be interested in your thoughts on this.
Tellingly, Schumer didn’t respond to this question. Oh well.
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