ome issues are presented as inherently partisan to voters, such as gay marriage, abortion and the war in Iraq.

Campaign finance reform, despite bipartisan efforts in the past to change the playing field, is often considered one of those issues.

The GOP often paints it as a free speech issue –people should be able to say what they want and spend their money how they want. Democrats say that money buys influence and votes, subverting the idea of democracy.

So it's worth paying attention when former politicians from both sides of the aisle say something must be done about the influence of money in public elections in the United States.

In the column featured on today's edition, former N.C. Rep. Gene Arnold, former U.S. Rep. and Lt. Gov. Jim Gardner and former U.S. Rep. Tim Valentine Jr. all support a change in the system to public financing.

Arnold and Gardner are Republicans. Valentine is a Democrat.

There are issues to be worked out, such as how public financing could be paid for and what to do about other groups who spend money on behalf of candidates. Nothing is simple when it comes to political campaigns and no one wants to limit free speech and the right of the people to choose their candidates and support them however they wish.

But right or wrong, there's a strong perception that money talks louder than the voters in Washington. If some of the politicians who saw the political machine up close agree, perhaps it's time to listen.