A bipartisan group led by Sens. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Reps. David Price (D-N.C.) and Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) unveiled proposed tweaks Wednesday to the presidential public financing system.

The proposed changes, updating the three-decades-old subsidy now deemed paltry by presidential frontrunners, would up the current 1-1 fundraising match for smaller donations to 4-1. Proposed adjustments also would toss out state-by-state primary spending caps and double the primary spending limits to $100 million.

If passed, the new limits, which would be adjusted for inflation starting in 2009, would first be used in the 2012 presidential election.

— Matthew Murray