06-19-2008, 12:21 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 3,606
My Mood:  SL Join Date: 03/17/2004 | Obama rejects public funding
The Swamp: Obama rejects public financing Quote:
In a widely expected decision, Sen. Barack Obama announced this morning that his Democratic presidential bid will reject public financing, abandoning an earlier pledge to participate in the system if his Republican challenger agreed to do the same.
It will be the first time a presidential nominee has not agreed to limit his spending and accept public financing since the system was put in place in 1976. The Illinois Democrat would have been entitled to about $84 million in public money for his general election effort.
Presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain of Arizona has taken steps to accept the public funds for the general election.
"It's not an easy decision, and especially because I support a robust system of public financing of elections," Obama said in a Internet video to supporters announcing the decision.
Obama had pledged late last year to stick to the public financing system, if the Republican nominee agreed to do so as well. In his video to supporters, he argues his Internet fundraising approach is a better one.
"The public financing of presidential elections as it exists today is broken, and we face opponents who've become masters at gaming this broken system," he said.
McCain's campaign charged that the decision shows Obama is just another politician.
"Today, Barack Obama has revealed himself to be just another typical politician who will do and say whatever is most expedient for Barack Obama," McCain campaign communications director Jill Hazelbaker said in a statement. "The true test of a candidate for president is whether he will stand on principle and keep his word to the American people. Barack Obama has failed that test today, and his reversal of his promise to participate in the public finance system undermines his call for a new type of politics."
Hazelbaker said Obama's decision would have "far-reaching and extraordinary consequences that will weaken and undermine the public financing system."
The main reason Obama is eager to bypass public financing is because he has shattered fundraising records. He has already raised more than $250 million for his presidential bid.
David Donnelly, president of Campaign Money Watch, a pro-public financing group, said he still expects to see Obama strengthen the public financing system for elections once he becomes president.
"We have long maintained that presidential candidates would make a decision to opt in or out of the presidential system not on what they thought about public financing, but what put them in a position to win in November. That's why we find Sen. Obama's decision to forego public financing for the general election regrettable but understandable in light of the tens of millions of dollars that will be raised and spent outside the system attacking him," Donnelly said. "The real test is whether a candidate has pledged to make passage of public financing a priority if elected and we intend to hold Sen. Obama accountable to his pledge to do so."
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