"But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform - not even in the state senate."

A well-delivered line. Red Meat to her audience surely. But is it true? No.

Actually Gov. Palin, Obama did bring about a real reform during his tenure in the Illinois senate. Illinois (which was and in some ways still is the wild, wild, west of campaign finance) got it's first ethics reform in a generation through the efforts of Obama working hand-in-hand with Republican State Sen. Kirk Dillard (a McCain delegate to boot).

Here's what that law reformed:

*It ended the practice of pols using campaign funds for their personal use, with a few exceptions.

*Restricted gifts to elected officials (we had a governor who liked antiques) and government employees

*It also ended the practice of pols fattening their campaign funds and then using them as a retirement nest egg (unfortunately those in the legislature at that time could take with them the amount they had in their campaign funds when the law was passed).

*It required the majority of campaign contributions to be filed electronically so the public could access the information on the web.

Well, that's enough for now.

I have a feeling this won't be the last time I do this during this campaign season.