GOP Nominee
Former Candidates
A year ago, in March of 2007, John McCain and Barack Obama agreed to non-aggression pact of sorts. The agreement stated that if they both managed to become the nominees of their respective parties, they would agree to accept public financing for the campaign. This made a few waves in the media at the time, but observers thought that it was just a way for Obama to boost his “good government” credentials. After all, it was incredibly unlikely that Obama would become the Democratic nominee.
According to the New York Times from 3/2/07:
Senator John McCain joined Senator Barack Obama on Thursday in promising to accept a novel fund-raising truce if each man wins his party’s presidential nomination.
“Should John McCain win the Republican nomination, we will agree to accept public financing in the general election, if the Democratic nominee agrees to do the same,” Mr. Nelson [then McCain's campaign manager] said.
A spokesman for Mr. Obama, Bill Burton, said, “We hope that each of the Republican candidates pledges to do the same.”
Mr. Burton added that if nominated Mr. Obama would “aggressively pursue an agreement” with whoever was his opponent.
Fast forward a year and it looks like McCain and Obama might very well be their respective party nominees after all [note: I still think Hillary win pull it out in the end, but in case she doesn't...]. So yesterday, McCain’s current campaign manager Rick Davis re-iterated the agreement and said that the campaign would honor it in the general election, as long as Obama did the same.
Unfortunately, it seems that the candidate that has built his entire campaign on promises of “hope” and “change” to Washington, while putting an end to cynical politics-as-usual, is already backtracking.
Obama’s campaign is backing away from suggestions that the Illinois senator would publicly finance his campaign in the general election, if he’s the nominee, and referring to public financing as an “option” - not as the “pledge” McCain’s campaign claims Obama made.
Now that he’s raising un-godly amounts of money, his pledges don’t matter. Right. Expect McCain to wield this cudgel against Obama a lot during the coming months if he does in fact get the nominee.
February 14th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
I have no doubt that Obama would renege on his commitment. I wonder however how he will explain it. He seems to have a silver tongue. He takes BS to an art form.
February 14th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Would anyone be surprised?
February 14th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
As a dedicated socialist, Obama will agree that McCain should accept public financing (he will not - he strongly believes in do has he says)
February 14th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
if you havent heard about the 2006 mccain letter to obama by now you will, again and again.
February 14th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Its my understanding that Sen. McCain wrote to the FEC stating that he planned to decline federal matching funds he was entitled to and declared his intention to forego federal funds. Seems McCain opted out before Obama did.
February 14th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
“That’s a pie-crust promise — easily made, easily broken”
Mary Poppins
February 14th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
If bored, check out this story about parodies of the Yes We Can video.
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1581403/20080212/id_0.jhtml
February 14th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Axel,
He opted out of primary FEC matching funds, not general election funds.
February 14th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Of course Obama will not stand by his word if he can benefit otherwise. Of course his success raising money by filling a market need hasn’t convinced him in the slightest that campaign finance restrictions are counterproductive. He just makes an exception for himself.
February 14th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
I’ve just started compiling my spreadsheet to store and analyze all the general election polls with Obama and McCain now that the primaries are winding down. I think Obama will be their nominee.
Obama runs really strong in the West. He’s leading in states like Colorado and Nevada, but he runs really poorly in the Midwest and Northeast. There’s even a poll from Massachusetts showing McCain leading Obama. We all know that won’t happen, but still it shows a weakness. Obama runs well in New Hampshire though. I think he does well where there are rich liberals and rich independents and poorly with the working class.
I really think McCain should consider picking Huckabee for VP to really exploit this weakness of Obama’s. Huckabee could pick up many of those working class Democrats in the Midwest. We could see Obama win Colorado, Nevada, and Iowa but lose Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. I don’t buy the argument that the black vote will carry Obama in these states. Democrats are already winning 90% of them. You can’t really do better than that.
This election may be different that what we’re used to and re-define what is a red state and what is a blue state.
February 14th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
“This election may be different that what we’re used to and re-define what is a red state and what is a blue state.”
They always do.
Yes, Obama is strong in the West. All the more reason for McCain to ask Romney to be his running mate.
February 14th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Ah yes! You gotta love the debate between Colter and Hannity: Is McCain better on Iraq than Hillary…
beautiful.
February 14th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Obama as Diplomat in Chief
By MICHAEL O’HANLON
http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB120295423439867155.html
February 14th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
New York Times Editorial: Making (Some) Progress in Iraq
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/14/opinion/14thu2.html?ei=5088&en=41ef68eca744f0cd&ex=1360645200&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=print
February 14th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Check this out. Obama Hussein just got the endorsement of murderous Nicauraguan Communist Dictator Daniel Ortega:
http://www.libertarianrepublican.blogspot.com
February 14th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
Eric,
Glad to see you made bond - or did you escape?
February 15th, 2008 at 2:26 am
Good question! I have been wondering about this myself. If Obama wants to have any credibility at all on this, he has to stand by his original pledge. I’m not convinced he will, but if he does, it would definitely help bridge the money gap we will have in the presidential race this fall. If Obama believes so much in this, let him prove it. If not, he only proves the hollowness of his own words.
February 15th, 2008 at 8:26 am
[...] Race42008: A year ago, in March of 2007, John McCain and Barack Obama agreed to non-aggression pact of sorts. [...]
February 15th, 2008 at 8:35 am
I don’t think it will matter a bit if Obama follows his pledge or not. The money for his campaign will just be deverted to PAC’s. Move-On will become even fatter and sassier than they already are. There is no way McCain can compete.
February 15th, 2008 at 8:48 am
Has any of the past or current presidents stood up 100% by they word? And yet, we are suffering the consequences of their pride and inability to govern and defend the nation. We deserve new talent, new fresh ideas. We deserve someone else with less experience in corruption to take over and lead the country in another direction. It is foolish to think that he will change and fix the mess that took so many years to put together in a 4 years. This is not hocused – pocus plan… and he honestly recognizes it. We deserve the opportunity to get rid of the traditional stuff… so corrupted that now we have to deal with something called “delegates†to change the population’s decision. Delegates should be unconstitutional; after all, I don’t need anyone to think for me or to alter right to elect whoever I want. My vote should count and so yours!
February 15th, 2008 at 8:54 am
before you get distracted with my grammar… English is not my first language… look beyond it!
February 15th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
[...] Wednesday, I asked whether or not Barack Obama would stand by his promise to take federal matching funds for the general election, if he and John McCain are their respective [...]
February 15th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
[...] only. Read LJ’s two posts on the subject, first and second, paying special attention to the use of the word “pledge.” Did the Messiah [...]
February 16th, 2008 at 12:34 am
[...] publicly financing the general election. If you haven’t already, I’d suggest reading my first and second post, then reading Allah’s [...]