Now here's an interesting one: Rattling around the dark corridors of Congress where folks are looking for every possible dollar to pay for the huge Hurricane Katrina rebuilding effort is a plan to effectively wipe out the cornerstone of the nation's post-Watergate campaign reform ideas.

Under the guise of getting rid of pork to free up money for Katrina relief, some members of the House intend to put forth a bill that would repeal the presidential public financing system.

One of the idea's supporters, Republican Rep. Randy Neugebauer of Texas, argues that "we can either spend taxpayer dollars on partisan campaigns while putting the country further into debt, or we can help hurricane victims get back on their feet without adding to future debt."

That's a phony argument designed to divert attention from the real purpose here: eliminating a program that has made at least some impact on leveling the playing field in presidential politics.

The public financing program is paid through a voluntary checkoff of $3 against tax liability. Clearly, it is in need of reform. The checkoff limit should be increased, and candidates should be forced to choose whether to accept the money for the entire campaign or forgo it entirely.

Today, candidates spend freely in the primaries and then go for the public money in the general election.

Those are useful reforms. But killing the program altogether in the name of hurricane relief is cynical and wrong.