Conn. candidates line up for public financing

About 70 percent of the Nutmeg State's candidates for General Assembly this year are expected to sign on to a new public financing election program. Not only does it provide hefty grants, it offers extra money to combat opponents who don't participate and a promise of more cash to counter negative ads from third parties.

"Some objected to it originally, but they're happy with it now," said state Rep. Al Adinolfi, a Republican from Cheshire. "It gives them more time to get involved with the issues, it keeps everybody on a clean playing field."

National advocates for public financing hope Connecticut's voluntary Citizens' Election Program--along with similar initiatives in Arizona and Maine, and limited programs in Vermont, North Carolina, New Mexico and New Jersey--prove that public financing could also work on the national level for presidential and congressional candidates.

"I think a high participation rate will show what's possible, especially amid the collapse of the federal system," said Nick Nyhart, co-founder and director of the Public Campaign, a nonprofit group based in Washington that advocates comprehensive campaign finance reform.

First-year participation in the Maine and Arizona programs was about 30 percent, said Andy Sauer, executive director of Connecticut Common Cause, which pushed for the new legislation in hopes of ridding state elections of special interest money.

"For the most part, this is exceeding our expectations," he said.

Last month, Obama reversed his earlier stance and decided to raise millions of dollars on his own, bypassing the federal system that's been in place since the Watergate scandal. President Bush was the first candidate to reject public financing of primaries when he ran in 2000, but no previous candidate had ignored the general election funds.

Obama said the system is outdated.

"We face opponents who've become masters at gaming this broken system," he told supporters in a video message.