The candidate war chests: Can we FINALLY start talking about public financing???

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c105:S.+918:

S.918

Clean Money, Clean Elections Act (Introduced in Senate)

TITLE I--CLEAN MONEY FINANCING OF SENATE ELECTION CAMPAIGNS

SEC. 101. FINDINGS AND DECLARATIONS.

(a) UNDERMINING OF DEMOCRACY BY CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS FROM PRIVATE SOURCES- The Senate finds and declares that the current system of privately financed campaigns for election to the Senate undermines democracy in the United States by--

(1) violating the democratic principle of `one person, one vote' and diminishing the meaning of the right to vote by allowing monied interests to have a disproportionate and unfair influence within the political process;
(2) diminishing a Senator's accountability to constituents by compelling legislators to be accountable to the major contributors who finance their election campaigns;
(3) creating a conflict of interest, perceived and real, by encouraging Senators to take money from private interests that are directly affected by Federal legislation;
(4) imposing large, unwarranted costs on taxpayers through legislative and regulatory outcomes shaped by unequal access to lawmakers for campaign contributors;
(5) driving up the cost of election campaigns, making it difficult for qualified candidates without personal fortunes or access to campaign contributions from monied individuals and interest groups to mount competitive Senate election campaigns;
(6) disadvantaging challengers, because large campaign contributors tend to give their money to incumbent Senators, thus causing Senate elections to be less competitive; and
(7) burdening incumbents with a preoccupation with fundraising and thus decreasing the time available to carry out their public responsibilities.

(b) ENHANCEMENT OF DEMOCRACY BY PROVIDING CLEAN MONEY- The Senate finds and declares that the replacement of private campaign
contributions with clean money financing for all primary, runoff, and general elections to the Senate would enhance American democracy by--

(1) helping to eliminate access to wealth as a determinant of a citizen's influence within the political process and to restore meaning to the principle of `one person, one vote';
(2) increasing the accountability of Senators to the constituents who elect them;
(3) eliminating the inherent conflict of interest caused by the private financing of the election campaigns of public officials, thus restoring public confidence in the fairness of the electoral and legislative processes;
(4) reversing the escalating cost of elections and saving taxpayers billions of dollars that are
currently misspent due to legislative and regulatory agendas skewed by the influence of contributions;

(5) creating a more level playing field for incumbents and challengers, creating genuine opportunities for all Americans to run for the Senate, and encouraging more competitive elections; and
(6) freeing Senators from the constant preoccupation with raising money, and allowing them more time to carry out their public responsibilities.
SEC. 102. ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS AND BENEFITS OF CLEAN MONEY FINANCING OF SENATE ELECTION CAMPAIGNS.

The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
`TITLE V--CLEAN MONEY FINANCING OF SENATE ELECTION CAMPAIGNS