"Though the bill faces an uphill climb in the Senate, its passage was a signal of how much attitudes toward money in politics have shifted in recent years, particularly after last year’s Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that opened the door to unlimited corporate and union spending on campaigns.
Even Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican who has been the Senate’s most impassioned advocate for limiting the influence of money on politics, signaled a distinct lack of enthusiasm for fighting to maintain the public finance system.
“It’s become an irrelevance,” he said in an interview with National Journal Daily. “No major candidate in their right mind would ever again take public financing. Why in the world should they if they’re outspent as I was two-, three-, four- to-one?”"
House Votes to End Watergate-Inspired Public Funding
NationalJournal.com:
