She serves as the speaker of the house.

I hope never runs against me in a primary.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. This is a rare honor.

Overall, the Maine Clean Elections Act has been a tremendous success.

The idea of raising funds, even the small amount necessary for a state house campaign, is daunting for many people.

I would say these are basically the same kind of system. They are voluntary systems.

I think all of the States are attempting to do a significant amount of analysis as to how this changes the makeup of people who run for office and the amount of money spent.

If you have two people under the volunteer system, they get a limited amount of money.

I urge the committee's support, and I am happy to answer your questions later.

We have gotten into an arms race here.

Sometimes that is harder than you think.

She has run under the system, she has recruited candidates under a public financing system.

But again, you have to be--become a qualifying candidate. So you still have to find people to write you a $5 check.

More importantly, after I qualified for clean elections, I could spend the majority of my time talking to my constituents.

Whether it was a senior citizen or a hardworking lobsterman, they could participate in my campaign.

As the Speaker of the House, I am engaged in recruiting candidates to run for the legislature.

I think you and others portrayed this accurately in the sense that we have gotten into an arms race here.

These are basically the same kind of system. They are voluntary systems.