watching American politics, where the presidential election is still more than a year away and most of the attention is going to the people with the money or big names -- Republicans George W. Bush and Steve Forbes and Democrats Vice President Al Gore and Bill Bradley.

But Sen. McCain is saying some sensible things which Americans should be giving some thought to -- and Bermudians too.

The main thrust of his campaign is that American electoral politics have been so thoroughly corrupted by money that its political leaders are beholden to those who make the biggest donations.

The result is a democracy under threat -- Sen. McCain asked yesterday morning that if $300,000 bought you an invitation to a White House reception in 1996, what will $600,000 buy you now? And in a country where even the Lincoln Bedroom is up for sale, guess who the politicians are working for? That, says Sen. McCain, is the real scandal of American politics, not the Monica Lewinsky affair. He is right.

Sen. McCain and a Democratic Senator, Russell Feingold, are engaged in a quixotic attempt to pass a campaign finance reform bill. They are, more than likely, doomed to failure, because the big money interests and the benefits to politicians of massive TV advertising will outweigh any gains that spending limits and a quality of debate which goes beyond sound bytes and attack ads can offer.

Bermuda's interests in this debate are two-fold. Because the Island catches a cold when America sneezes, a healthy US democracy is in Bermuda's best interests.

Beyond that, Bermuda should take a lead from the US and the United Kingdom on campaign finance, because the Island is years behind most other democracies when it comes to financial disclosure.

No one, except the parties' leaders and fundraisers, knows how much is given to the political parties, or by whom. And if conflicts of interest are inevitable in Bermuda -- and they are because of our small size -- then they should at least be declared.

Nor, despite United Bermuda Party MP Trevor Moniz' own efforts to create a Register of Interests -- a campaign which has seen him tilt at almost as many windmills as Senators McCain and Feingold -- does the public have any real knowledge of MPs' and Senators' personal financial interests.

Nor is there any way of determining who funds the election campaigns of the major parties, although it was clear that more was spent in 1998 than ever before. It is no coincidence that the PLP appeared to have the same level of funding as the UBP and went on to win the election.

Disclosure of contributions and publishing a Register of Interests would be a first step towards holding politicians more accountable.

If donors are reluctant to have their names made public, then they should not give money. And if politicians are reluctant to disclose what financial interests they have, then they should not put themselves in the public eye.