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The reality is that asking the public to fund political campaigns accomplishes nothing. Candidates continue to seek interest-group support through other channels, both financial and in-kind, and corruption problems abound.

But having said that, what's happening with campaign finance reform and our political culture is devastating.

We need real campaign finance reform to loosen the grip of special interests on politics.

Well, the role of money in politics is pretty corrupting right now.

Politics has become unbelievably and unfortunately way too much about how much money is involved rather than what kind of ideas are involved.

Money is the fuel that makes political victory possible. Sadly, folks, in many cases it's more important than ideas. And this is what turns off so many people to politics.

Anyone who has been around Washington politics long enough can't avoid this truism: Election-year money is like a rushing river that invariably finds cracks in any dam the reformers erect.

Finance is a gun. Politics is knowing when to pull the trigger.

I think we have to look at the whole way campaigns are financed. The No. 1 problem is PAC and special-interest money.

Unfortunately, money in politics is an insidious thing - and a loophole in our campaign finance system was taken advantage of with money going to existing or new 527 groups with the sole purpose of influencing the election.