The Colorado Miracle article from 2009.
http://www.nationalreview.com/nrd/article/?q=ODJmYWRlMDkxMzYxMzM1NTY3YmMwZDc1MzZmMmYzMGU=
The good news is Cory Gardner-R beat corrupt Betsey Markey-D with 52% of the vote. Markey got 41%. I wonder if they will run Markey again in 2012.
In a larger sense, this is also a story about the unintended consequences of campaign-finance reform. In 2002, Congress passed McCain-Feingold. That same year, Colorado citizens enacted Amendment 27, a constitutional amendment that capped state-legislative contributions at $400 per donor. By lowering the amounts candidates could raise and spend, these laws effectively took message control out of the hands of candidates and handed it to outsiders. (Emphasis added.)
Noting that there is "no such thing as a 'mom and pop' 527" because of all the arcane tax-law guidance required, the article's bottom line is that McCain-Feingold in 2002 handed the financing of American politics to large donors and 527 bundlers. And things like Abound and Solyndra become the quid that large donors, unrestrained and without effective competition now for the attention of politicians, demand for their quo.
Campaign finance "reform" has cartelized American politics and placed it firmly in the hands of billionaires and political fixers.