More than two billion dollars will be spent this year on political campaigns, and much of it will be spent on televised political attack ads that poison elections and lead to widespread cynicism.

Via MyDD, here is a list of candidates for federal office that have pledged to support publicly-funded elections.

The Voters First Pledge asks candidates to commit to support legislation to make elections fair through Clean Elections-style public financing, enhance accountability through stricter lobbying and ethics guidelines, and the protect voters' right-to-know with better disclosure.

Being acquainted with a number of candidates, mostly former candidates, I have listened to nearly all of them lamenting the time they had to spend on the phone asking potential donors for money. The universal feeling was that the money chase was demeaning and poisoned the whole process, and this feeling was shared by both Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives.

Unfortunately , none of our Mississippi candidates have taken the pledge, so it's time to start asking why they haven't. Elections should not be decided on the basis of who has the most money.