the big story (late edition)

NYC Mayor Wants America's Guns

Mayor Michael Bloomberg plays the left flank to the Obama Administration. The New York mayor blasts the President, in an open letter, for what he calls a lack of federal action on gun control. Though the White House has promised that it would not introduce any anti-gun legislation, Bloomberg's public plea may change that.


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earlier:

Maine's Clean Election Law May Save Democracy

Maine's law is leveling the playing field and getting rid of the political payoffs. All candidates are created equal in Maine and the 80 percent of the pols participate. What can the rest of the country learn?

BANGOR — Gubernatorial candidate Libby Mitchell ended a recent hourlong evening appearance before the local gay community the same way she ends nearly every campaign event on her schedule. She did not ask her audience members for their vote, their volunteer time, or as much money as they were able to spare.

Instead, she wanted exactly $5, no more, no less, payable only by a certified financial document. Checks could be written not to her campaign fund but to a government account in Augusta. Those who wanted to pay with cash could purchase a prepaid post office money order from a stack Mitchell keeps in her gray leather purse.

One attendee peeled four crumpled dollar bills from his wallet and scrambled through the drizzly night to fetch the rest in quarters from his car.

Mitchell is one of four gubernatorial candidates in Maine racing to collect 3,250 of those $5 contributions to qualify for a clean elections program that has become a model nationwide. Candidates who meet Thursday’s deadline will become eligible for between $400,000 and $1.8 million in public funds but will be prohibited from accepting other contributions for the rest of the campaign.

A system created to banish big money from politics has created a class of candidates who must first fixate on small money. Those who choose to “run clean,’’ as Mainers call it, say that their top priority early in the campaign is reaching that $16,250 goal. It is a sum that candidates elsewhere can pull in during a single phone call or the first moments of a cocktail reception, but here it requires months, accumulated in bake-sale increments.

“If I qualify, there will be no more fund-raising and I will spend every waking hour campaigning around the state,’’ Mitchell, a Democrat who serves as state Senate president, promised the dozen attendees in Bangor. “I’ll never ask again. When you see me coming, you won’t have to run.’’

Maine’s system has gained in popularity since its introduction in 2000, with more than 80 percent of legislative candidates now participating. The system extends to gubernatorial candidates but not to congressional seats. This year, Maine could have two major-party nominees for governor relying only on public funds for the first time.

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