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Two months ago, McCain and Obama got into a bit of a argument over whether Obama would stand by the pledge he made last year to take public funding for the general election campaign if he was the nominee. McCain accused him of being a hypocrite for attempting to renege of the agreement and Obama noted that with over 1,000,000 individual donors, his campaign is essentially the definition of being publicly funded.
Since that time the conventional wisdom was that McCain would ultimately take the guaranteed $85 million for the general election (September through November) as well as rely on the fundraising of the RNC and state GOPs while Obama would be able to raise a couple hundred million for the general election on his own.
Well, earlier today Obama sat down with Fox’s Chris Wallace and talked about his current thinking as it regards to the situation. He had some very interesting things to say:
WALLACE: The Wall Street Journal says that you are prepared to run the first privately-financed campaign – presidential campaign since Watergate. True?
OBAMA: Look, we’ve done a wonderful job raising money from the grassroots. I’m very proud of the fact that in March, in February for example, 90 percent of our donations came over the Internet. Our average donation is $96. And we’ve done an amazing job, I think, of mobilizing people, to finance our campaigns in small increments.
I have promised that I will sit down with John McCain and talk about, can we preserve a public system, as long as we are taking into account third party, independent expenditures, because what I don’t intend to -
WALLACE: If you could get that agreement you would go for a publicly financed campaign?
OBAMA: What I don’t intend to do is to allow huge amounts of money to be spent by the RNC, the Republican National Committee or by organizations like the Swift Boat organization and just stand there without -
WALLACE: If you get that agreement?
OBAMA: I would be very interested in pursuing public financing because I think not every candidate is going to be able to do what I’ve done in this campaign and I think it’s important to think about future campaigns.
Now, if I understand that correctly, Obama is essentially saying that if he and McCain could sit down and hash out an agreement regarding 527 groups that he would be “very interested” in taking the $85 million for himself. Quite frankly, that’s stunning. Here’s a guy who could very well outspend his opponent by 2 to 1, or even 3 to 1 in the general election (which would be a significant advantage for Obama – enabling him to run a 50-state campaign), but now he says that he might voluntarily level the playing field. If I were John McCain I would make a deal right away. If they can fight the general with the same amount of money, that will give McCain a much better chance to win, especially if Obama isn’t drowning him out with ads.
To be sure, I think it would be complete insanity for Obama to actually take public funding in the end. I’m sure his advisers would never let him go through with it, but he’s really not leaving himself much wiggle room. What if McCain accepts to take the money while coming down hard on the third party groups?
April 27th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Perhaps he’s so frightened of a “swift boat” campign against himself that he’s willing to make a deal which includes some sort of limitation on 527s? I’m not sure how any agreement could accomplish that.
April 27th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
alaska jake,
Good point. Frankly, I’m confused by that too. The insidious nature of 527s is that they operate completely out of the control of with of the two major parties. So much so that any connection by a 527 to an official campaign would be illegal and subject to harsh fines by the FEC. So, even if Obama and McCain could work out an agreement, they would depend entirely on the 527s voluntarily suspending all ads. The only real way to stop them is to close the loophole in BCRA. I wonder why more people aren’t attempting to do that.
April 27th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
It would be a fair trade-off, and one that could end up favoring either candidate.
McCain is, though a psuedo-lefty, clean, with a military record that would make any kind of “swift boat” campaign limited, if existant at all. You can’t attack him for being too Conservative, because he isn’t. You can’t attack him for being too liberal, because so is Obama, you can’t attack him for being dishonest or corrupt, because he isn’t.
Obama, on the other hand, could take a hit from swift-boat attacks on his faith, his preacher, his “cling” statemens, his lack of experience, his ties to questionable people, etc., etc.
Overall, it might favor Obama more, because McCain won’t attack his character, and its attacks on charater and personaility that stick more than attacks on political positions and policy, so, we’ll see if McCain agrees.
April 27th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Obama is truly stuck in a bind, since he originally pledged to take public funding when it looked as if he had little chance to be the nominee. This should be interesting to watch…
April 27th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
This is Obama setting himself up to NOT take public funds. He signed a pledge that he would take public funding and now really doesn’t want to take the funds given his fundraising success AND the lack of funds availible to him from the DNC. He is going to ask McCain to limit 527’s? How exactly can any candidate do that? McCain can’t waive his magic wand and do that. Plus, Obama wants the RNC money ($30 million cash on hand) out because the DNC has little money ($5 million cash on hand) to help him if he were to take public financing. This is all just spin by Obama. He is setting the ground work so he can break his pledge and limit the damage. I hope McCain really hammers him on it when he does break his pledge.
April 27th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
What Obama is really saying is that he will never take public funding but he just found a way to blame stupid and naive John McCain for his (SEnator Obama’s) refusal to take public funding.
When will people ever learn to parse everything a poltician says very carefully instead of just hearing what they want to hear?
April 27th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
obama included the line about 527’s so he can back out of his early promise. they’ll have a meeting, he’ll say “we couldnt gaurantee there’d be no swift boats.” and then he’ll back out. i hate that guy.
April 27th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
I’ve been discussing this for over a week at The Pink Flamingo. http://thepinkflamingo.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/4/21/3652853.html If you crunch the numbers, Obama is spending like a ‘drunken democrat’. (I won’t impugn sailors). I don’t know how he can keep raking in all the money, esp. from his small donors. If you read his FEC reports, it appears he has them on credit-card autopay. Some are using more than one card. If prices at the pump and the grocery store continue to rise, I don’t know how his small donors can keep chucking out the money.
SJR
The Pink Flamingo
April 28th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
I don’t know. I think Obama’s actually going to do it, which would indeed be stunning and very impressive. Now, I don’t know how you work out the details, esp. with 527s, but I don’t think he’s just trying to be deceptive. And, yes, McCain should definitely work out an agreement. It does seem like it is a matter of principle for Obama and I hope he keeps his word on this. I thought the Fox interview overall was also impressive.
April 28th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Diane – a candidate does not have the power to control or silence 527’s. In fact, it would be illegal to do so. Candidates cannot coordinate with these groups by law. Obama insisting that these groups be silenced before he accepts public financing is simply an excuse not to take public financing since their is no possible or legal way for McCain can stop 527’s. It would have to be done legislatively and that is not going to be done this cycle.