Who says public financing is dead? A bill introduced Tuesday is shaking up the way presidential campaigns are funded. It’s also making it a heck of a lot harder to comprehend an already complicated issue.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, it is important to understand how the system operates now. Spearheaded after the Watergate scandal, this measure was intended to control the influence of donors with deep pockets and level the playing field for lesser-known candidates.

In a nutshell, the system provides taxpayer money for candidates who agree to spending limits. For the primary election, candidates raise their own money and are able to qualify for matching public funds. Candidates lucky enough to make it past the nomination round for their respective party are then granted money to cover the entire cost of the campaign…as long as they agree not to blow every last penny. Just how much spending money is involved? According to the Los Angeles Times, in 2008, the grant for the general election is expected to be a whopping $83.8 million.

Well, “whopping” for you and me, maybe. For big-wigs like Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) – $80 million dollars is mere pocket change. Clinton already has $14 million dollars left over from her Senate campaign and experts believe she has the potential to raise another $100 million dollars by the end of this year. With the beast that is the Internet and other catchy fundraising techniques, there are few doubters.

Furthermore, with the election already being billed as “The Most Expensive Campaign Ever,” the government grant comes off as more of a joke than anything else, with costs expected to reach $500 million by the time the 2008 election is said and done.

Candidates aren’t the only ones opting out of the system. The funding for this system is paid for by — who else — taxpayers. More and more of us are refusing to check a box on our tax returns to donate $3 to the system. Fewer donations mean less money to fund campaigns.

Walking away from this system isn’t a new thing in the political world. In 1980, former Texas governor, John B. Connally, became the first candidate to reject public money. In the last Presidential election, President George Bush and Senator Kerry decided to raise money on their own for the primaries.

So if this has been done in the past, why is everyone making such a fuss over Clinton? While she may not be the first person to refuse financial help for the primary elections, she IS the first person to turn down money for the general election.

When it came time for the general election in the last Presidential campaign, Bush and Kerry took the government up on its offer. In return, they agreed to a spending cap and not to raise any personal money after their party conventions.

Meanwhile, with Clinton backing away from the system altogether, she will be able to spend as much money as she can raise. This move also allows her to raise money for the primary election at the same time she is raising money for the general election.

Don’t blame Clinton though. Public financing was on its way out long before she made the subtle move to forgo our (tax-payers) money in her quest to become the first female president of the United States. The New York Times says Senator Hillary Clinton “was merely confirming what many in Washington already knew: that the public financing system has failed to keep pace with the torrents of money flowing toward the presidential elections.”

Which brings us to Tuesday’s announcement – three House members and one senator introduced legislation that would increase the amount of money in the system and increase the spending limits for candidates who participate in it. It is worth noting, however, things are staying put for the almighty 2008 presidential election.

If passed, taxpayers would have the option of donation $10 dollars instead of the current $3 dollars. The proposal would also set higher spending limits and offer more money to candidates whose opponents (think Clinton) chose to decline the public money and raise more on their own.

With Obama and McCain also contemplating moves away from the public financing system, it may be too late for 2008. But with this new legislation, at least politicians are taking notice of a system that has run amuck for far too long.