On March 20, U.S. Senators Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Richard Durbin (D-Il.) said they will soon introduce a bill to provide public funding for congressional candidates. They say their model is the “Clean Elections” system now used for state legislative candidates in Maine and Arizona. Both states do not discriminate for or against any candidate on the basis of political affiliation. Anyone who raises a certain number of small contributions is entitled to public funding. The Specter-Durbin statement implies that their bill will follow this principle. It would be difficult for them to introduce a discriminatory bill, since two independent U.S. Senators were elected last year. A similar bill will be introduced in the House by Congressman John Tierney (D-Ma.).

On March 17, the Mississippi Democratic Party Executive Committee voted to bar George Dale from the party’s primary this year, for State Insurance Commissioner. He is the incumbent and he has always been elected as a Democrat (for eight full 4-year terms). The party took the action because Dale endorsed President Bush for re-election in 2004. He will probably file a lawsuit to get on the Democratic primary ballot, which is bound to make interesting law about the rights of political parties versus the rights of candidates. Similar lawsuits in Alabama have always resulted in wins for the political parties. A somewhat similar lawsuit in Missouri last year failed to settle the issue in that state.