It's usually the Democrats who have favored campaign finance reform, because the Republicans have always had the money. The Republicans, of course, weren't too keen on it (one of the reasons McCain is in the conservative doghouse right now).

However, big buck campaign contributors are usually free of ideology, they don't care who wins as long as he backs their program. As you know, they often support both sides so whoever wins will be beholden to them. Since things have been looking pretty grim for Republicans lately, the big contributors have been funding Democratic campaigns very generously instead, and I imagine Republicans, with little prospect for victory in November, have been scrambling for cash.

I predict that it will be Republicans pushing for campaign financing reform in the future, and the Democrats piously whining about how it is a fundamental part of our "free speech". If McCain gets the White House, this may especially be the case. This is one of those positions (like filibustering) that seems able to hop across the ideological membrane with little difficulty.

Long, drawn-out campaigns increase the need for campaign contributions, and large amounts of cash are consumed in the primary season struggling against your own party, even before you face your opponent. I am not in favor of this. In my opinion, campaign contributions are the biggest single enemy facing American Democracy, because it allows private organizations, power centers, and businesses to influence the policies of elected officials. It also funds the creation of a parallel carpetbagger bureaucracy that administers this flow of money, and which exerts an unholy influence of its own.

My solution: for starters, make campaign contributions non-tax deductible. Let there be no financial incentive to suborn the political process, no subsidy for bribery. But I suspect then both parties will join in denouncing that as "just more new taxes".

But that's just where I'd start.