Obama's public financing pledge presents an interesting challenge to him should he secure the nomination.
Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign said Thursday that it stood by a year-old pledge made with Senator Barack Obama that each would accept public financing for the general election if the nominee of the opposing party did the same. But Mr. Obama’s campaign refused to reaffirm its earlier commitment.
On Tuesday, one of Mr. McCain’s advisers told The New York Times that the campaign had decided to forgo public financing in the general election, an awkward admission for a senator who has made campaign finance reform a central part of his political persona.
That adviser was speaking on the assumption that Mr. Obama, who has broken all records in political fund-raising and is currently drawing more than $1 million a day, would find a way to retreat from the pledge in order to outspend his opponent in the fall by far. Under public-financing rules, the nominees are restricted to spending about $85 million each for the two-month general election campaign, far less than what Mr. Obama might be able to raise on his own.
I have a suggestion for Sen. Obama. Stick to your pledge and set up a separate fund for your supporters to contribute to that is dedicated to relieving problems faced by average or disadvantaged Americans (for example, people facing health care catastrophies, laid-off workers who need retraining, vets who need mental health care, etc.) This way, he'd stick to the "high road", and couldn't be accused of abandoning his pledge; and could harness the energy of his donors to actually make a difference in the lives of real Americans. The positive press he'd gain from this would be enormous. It really would be a departure from politics as usual. It would be an inspiring example of how Barack really is different. He doesn't need a financial advantage to defeat McCain. He just needs to convince Americans that he really does represent a different way of doing business.
(This idea was inspired by an "up and coming" young politician in Vermont named Matt Dunne, who campaigned a couple of years ago around the state by asking his supporters to volunteer with him for a day in local communities in places such as food shelves, homeless shelters, park and rec. depts. etc.)