In another sign that John McCain is moving toward accepting public financing this fall, the Republican's campaign is returning about $3 million in checks to contributors who have given money for his general election campaign, funds he could not use if he opts into the public system.
McCain's campaign, in letters to contributors, is asking supporters to write new checks to a special fund created to help the Arizona senator pay legal and accounting expenses related to compliance with the public funding system.
The move is largely procedural, and McCain's campaign said yesterday that it has not yet decided whether to accept public funding or to raise money on its own for the November presidential election. But the decision to return checks - which was made as the Democratic candidates announced raising $60 million combined in March, nearly as much as McCain had raised for the entire campaign through February - indicates that McCain is laying the groundwork for doing so.
"Senator McCain has made it clear that he expects to participate in the general election public financing system, and he hopes the Democratic nominee will do so as well," Brian Rogers, McCain spokesman, said in a statement. "The campaign reserves the right to change course, but these developments reflect our current plans."
Presidential candidates who opt into the public financing system receive taxpayer money to run their campaigns in exchange for agreeing to certain spending limits; they can raise money from private donors only for the "compliance fund," not to run their campaigns.
This year, a candidate who accepts the terms would be limited to about $84 million in spending.
Mark Salter, a senior McCain aide, said a decision on whether to accept the money was something they would deal with down the road.
"There's no reason to make that decision right now," he said. "We wouldn't get it until after the convention anyway."
I love the claims of compliance funds. He's building a legal trust fund because he broke the damn law he wrote. Unsurprising he's bailing in with such anemic fundraising. But apparently he expects everyone to ignore that he said 'No. I left. Suck my balls' to the FEC.
And sad thing is? They will.
Manic Progressive: A liberal who violently swings from anger at politicos to despondency over them.
Out Of Context theatre: Ron Paul has repeatedly said he's not a racist. - Destructinator XIII on why Ron Paul isn't racist.
Of course they will. The FEC is short several members, so most likely they'll just sit on their asses and let this happen. As for McCain taking public financing - well, all the better for the Democrats. They can spend as much as they want while staying out of the system (and fundraising will almost certainly not be a problem for them), while McCain has the joy of relying on third parties who can't legally co-ordinate with his campaign to do all of his political advertising (which sucks; just ask John Kerry).
“It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life.” -Jean-Luc Picard
"Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them." -Margaret Atwood
Guardsman Bass wrote:Of course they will. The FEC is short several members, so most likely they'll just sit on their asses and let this happen. As for McCain taking public financing - well, all the better for the Democrats. They can spend as much as they want while staying out of the system (and fundraising will almost certainly not be a problem for them), while McCain has the joy of relying on third parties who can't legally co-ordinate with his campaign to do all of his political advertising (which sucks; just ask John Kerry).
I read a much earlier story that the FEC won't even let McCain drop out of public financing unless he answers for certain actions he did. I don't know if anything ever came of that but I'm not surprised he is crawling back now.
“There are two kinds of people in the world: the kind who think it’s perfectly reasonable to strip-search a 13-year-old girl suspected of bringing ibuprofen to school, and the kind who think those people should be kept as far away from children as possible … Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between drug warriors and child molesters.” - Jacob Sullum[/size][/align]
Guardsman Bass wrote:Of course they will. The FEC is short several members, so most likely they'll just sit on their asses and let this happen. As for McCain taking public financing - well, all the better for the Democrats. They can spend as much as they want while staying out of the system (and fundraising will almost certainly not be a problem for them), while McCain has the joy of relying on third parties who can't legally co-ordinate with his campaign to do all of his political advertising (which sucks; just ask John Kerry).
I read a much earlier story that the FEC won't even let McCain drop out of public financing unless he answers for certain actions he did. I don't know if anything ever came of that but I'm not surprised he is crawling back now.
They sent a threatening letter, but most likely they won't do anything about it since they are short several members on the Commission.
“It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life.” -Jean-Luc Picard
"Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them." -Margaret Atwood
Guardsman Bass wrote:They sent a threatening letter, but most likely they won't do anything about it since they are short several members on the Commission.
Maybe I misread but the FEC can take action to force McCain's hand on the matter but they lacked sufficient members to allow him to abandon public financing due to quorum requirements.
“There are two kinds of people in the world: the kind who think it’s perfectly reasonable to strip-search a 13-year-old girl suspected of bringing ibuprofen to school, and the kind who think those people should be kept as far away from children as possible … Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between drug warriors and child molesters.” - Jacob Sullum[/size][/align]
