Today, I came across a story about McCain directly confronting Obama on the use of public financing during the general election. Evidently, early on in the race, Obama asked the FEC for guidance if it was allowable to use public financing for the general election, if he used private financing during the primaries. The goal was to use public financing if his Republican challenger would play by the same rules:
[Obama] has asked for guidance from the Federal Election Commission on whether he could reverse course if he wins the Democratic nomination and his Republican opponent accepts public money.
That plan was approved by the FEC:
Federal regulators ruled this morning that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) will be permitted to collect money for a potential general election presidential campaign without foreclosing the possibility that he will still accept federal funds for that phase of the campaign.
The first point that should be made is that this was an inquiry to the FEC, not an actual promise on Obama's behalf to follow through with that inquiry. In fact, that point was made very clear way back in February 2007:
Dan Pfeiffer, a spokesman for Obama, said the senator's filing is intended to "preserve the public financing option for the party's nominees." Other aides explained that the request is aimed at defining what Obama can and cannot do in a murky area of campaign finance law.
Obama did actually make a statement in no unclear terms that he planned on considering public financing:
Also, in response to a questionnaire in November from the Midwest Democracy Network, a group of nonpartisan government oversight groups, Obama said: "Senator John McCain has already pledged to accept this fundraising pledge. If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election."
Fortunately for Obama, I don't think it matters if he rejects this "commitment", or whatever it should be called. Back in 2003, Howard Dean broke an actual promise for using public financing. The reason being that Dean wanted to pursue small donations as a show of grassroots support. I too believe this was the right thing to do, and it should be Obama's plan as well. It is also quite beneficial that Obama is somewhat more successful than Howard Dean was during his Presidential campaign. So, in my opinion, even if Obama is viewed as promising to use public funds, I don't think it would harm him at all not to use public funds. The man is now a movement, as it has been said.
The story I read today was through the AP, in which it was reported that John McCain yesterday called Obama out on this "promise". Apparently McCain actually made a pledge to use public financing:
"I made the commitment to the American people that if I were the nominee of my party, I would accept public financing," the likely GOP presidential nominee said Friday in Oshkosh, Wis. "I expect Senator Obama to keep his word to the American people as well. This is all about a commitment that we made to the American people.
"I am going to keep my commitment," he said. "The American people have every reason to expect him to keep his commitment."
Well, this is a "very clever" move on John McCain's part. I can think of only one reason why McCain would want to use public financing. With Obama raising over a million dollars per day so far, $32 million in January '08 alone, how could McCain possibly keep up?
Even the AP could see through McCain's silly little trick:
McCain would be the obvious beneficiary if he and Obama take the federal money for the general election because they would have to return money already collected. Obama has raised $6.1 million for the general, nearly three times as much as McCain's $2.2 million.
Obama has huge grassroots fundraising ability. We all know this here, right? (that deserves a "woohoo!")
McCain simply can't keep up with that. Let's take a look at McCain's campaign funds situation (not to beat a dead horse). Hopefully, and from what I can tell it is, OpenSecrets.org is a credible resource:
Total Receipts: $41,102,178
Total Spent: $38,153,750
Cash on Hand: $2,948,428
Debts: $4,516,030
Date of last report: December 31, 2007
Now for Obama:
Total Receipts: $102,170,668
Total Spent: $83,544,420
Cash on Hand: $18,626,248
Debts: $792,681
Date of last report: December 31, 2007
The funds disparity is clearly quite stark. John McCain has over 5.5 times more debt than Obama has, and Obama has raise almost 2.5 times more money than John McCain. Now, this is only up until December 31, 2007. Barack Obama's fundraising has increased significantly since his big wins after the New Year. (Is "significant" an understatement?)
There wasn't a single quarter last year that McCain out-raised Obama. Trying to force the issue of public financing on Obama is a rather transparent, pathetic ploy by John McCain.
That's not the end of the story though. The Associated Press article I read failed to mention that four days ago, John McCain's campaign told the New York Times that he had decided to forgo public financing:
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.
Indeed, that was a rather awkward admission. Maybe a better word would be "confusing"? Unfortunately, the original AP article I read did not mention this change of heart on McCain's part. More recently than four days ago, the McCain campaign has tried to focus their message on campaign funding:
On Thursday, in an effort by the McCain campaign to speak with one voice and put the onus for abandoning the system on Mr. Obama, several McCain advisers called on him to make good on his pledge.
How will this play out in Republican land? I, for one, wonder if they'll be concerned about McCain wanting to use tax payer money for his campaign. Clearly, he's not exactly liked on the Right, so maybe this'll add fuel to the fire. Besides, the ploy must be equally transparent to Republicans as well.
From my perspective though, I would rather Obama not use public financing. His initial request to the FEC was just that: a request. He certainly isn't bound to a promise of any kind. Obama's supreme organizational and motivational skills have and will continue to bring in gobs of money.
Instead of public money and a huge advantage over his current situation, this is what John McCain has to look forward this Fall: