McCain Set to Take the Federal Financing Plunge

[Wretched Excess]

McCain Set to Take the Federal Financing Plunge

John McCain is on to track to become the first presidential candidate to accept public financing in the 2008 general election, which would allow him access to $84 million in taxpayer funds as long as he agrees to not raise or spend outside funds beyond that.

Advisers to the presumptive Republican nominee have confirmed to FOX News that McCain will likely accept the public financing, and that he sees it as more than sufficient to carry his general election campaign for two months, which is how long the public financing would be in effect.

With a presumed limit on his ability to collect cash, McCain supporters are being asked to send their donations to the Victory Committee, a joint fundraising vehicle with the Republican National Committee, which hopes to raise $120 million and use the funds towards electing McCain. Individual donors can give up to $30,800 to the Victory Committee — $2,300 of that for McCain’s primary campaign and the rest for the RNC. Whatever is left after the September convention can be used for getting McCain elected president.

Election analysts say the move is not altogether bad for McCain, or unprecedented. McCain is not limited in the amount of money he can help raise for the RNC, which in turn can spend unlimited amounts of cash on his general election bid, said Michael Malbim, executive director of the Campaign Finance Institute in Washington, D.C.

“It’s more or less wise,” Malbin said. “The candidate is fully allowed to raise money for the party and the party can spend as much as the candidate raises, as long as they don’t coordinate it.”

As long as the party is willing to spend the money, it can infuse McCain’s bid, much like the RNC did during President George Bush’s 2004 campaign. Both he and Democratic candidate John Kerry received $74 million in federal grants that year.

Observers point out that McCain has no doubt seen the writing on the wall: according to reports, he raised $15 million in March, compared to Democratic rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, who raised $40 million and $20 million in the same period respectively. For McCain, his March tallies would bring his total fundraising numbers to $75 million, compared to $234 million for Obama, and $175 million for Clinton.

“I think the point is, he has had a hard time raising money, even now, and I think part of the reason is - whether it turns out to be true or not - the smart money thinks this is going to be a Democratic year, not a Republican year, so there isn’t a lot of money flowing to Republicans,” said Bruce Merrill, a political science professor at Arizona State University who has been following McCain’s career since his days in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“(McCain’s campaign) has probably done a calculus and realizes they would probably get as much out of federal financing as they would without,” he said.

With Obama showing unprecedented fundraising prowess throughout his own primary, it is not clear now if he would be interested in taking the federal financing pledge and its accompanying limits if he were to get the nomination. Nor is it clear whether Clinton would, if she were to win the nomination. The two are locked in a tight primary battle that Democrats hope will be decided before the August convention, in part so that they can begin their general election campaigning — and spending.

Obama’s indecision has given the McCain camp an opening to nudge the Illinois senator. Last week, McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds e-mailed a statement to Marc Ambinder, associate editor of The Atlantic, noting that “five months ago Barack Obama personally and publicly declared that he would accept public financing if the Republican nominee did as well. As the McCain campaign moves toward the option of public financing, we hope Senator Obama will keep faith with his pledge to the American people.”

The Obama campaign has told reporters that he never “pledged” to accept public funds in the general election despite earlier reports that suggest he had toyed with the idea, as long as the eventual GOP nominee did too. In addition, the Obama campaign has criticized McCain for backing out of matching funds for the primary campaign once his faltering bid gained new life this year.

“The politics are fascinating,” said Rob Ritchie, executive director of FairVote, formerly the Center for Voting and Democracy. “Historically, Republicans have been able to raise more money than Democrats in these races, but Obama has been showing such fundraising capability that McCain knows he would be outspent.”

But Republicans have a reputation of working well together in an election crunch, and a RNC boon can translate into big benefits for McCain, who is expected to be nominated officially at the convention. The RNC reportedly has $25 million in the bank leading up to that event, compared to $4.8 million on hand for the Democratic National Committee.

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this is very mccainesque.  The BarackStar! also pledged to accept public funding (before he became The BarackStar!), but now it seems to depend on what the definition of "pledged" is (now that has transformed from The BarackStar! to a bill clinton act-alike).

it may be worth it just as a campaign issue for mccain,

[Wretched Excess]

more on The BarackStar! and public financing.  He made these comments tonight at a fundraiser:

Obama Prepares Argument to Discard Public-Financing Principle

April 08, 2008 11:13 PM

Despite his previous pledge to enter into the public financing system should he be the Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has recently been reluctant to re-commit to entering the system.

This reluctance has coincided with his primary, caucus, and fundraising successes. For that reluctance, Obama has been hammered as hypocritical by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., not to mention impartial observers.

Tonight at a fundraiser in Washington, D.C., at the National Museum of Women in the Arts -- at a $2,300-per-person event for 200 people held before a $1,000-per-person reception for 350 people -- Obama previewed his argument to justify this possible future discarding of a principle.

"We have created a parallel public financing system where the American people decide if they want to support a campaign they can get on the Internet and finance it, and they will have as much access and influence over the course and direction of our campaign that has traditionally been reserved for the wealthy and the powerful," Obama said.

Do you buy it?

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so much for his pledge.    this is another example of "Barack Knows Best".