Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Thursday he'll bypass the federal public financing system in the general election, abandoning an earlier commitment to take the money if his Republican rival did as well.
Obama, who set records raising money in the primary election, will forgo more than $84 million that would have been available to him in the general election. He would be the first candidate to do so since Congress passed 1970s post-Watergate campaign finance laws. Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee in waiting, has taken steps to accept the public funds in the general election.
Obama officials said they decided to take that route because McCain is already spending privately raised funds toward the general election campaign. Obama has vastly outraised McCain, however, and would likely retain that advantage if McCain accepts the public money.
The public finance system is paid for with the $3 contributions that taxpayers can make to the presidential fund in their tax returns.
"It's not an easy decision, and especially because I support a robust system of public financing of elections," Obama told supporters in a video message Thursday. "But 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."
Obama's spin is so weak its laughable. It's the sort of bumbling play you expect from someone running for mayor of a small town, not for the Presidency. (Not that his disciples will care. They think his incompetence is adorable.)
Let's us see how the Republicans are "gaming" the system:
Obama has shattered president campaign fundraising records, raking in more than $265 million as of the end of April. Of that, nearly $10 million was for the general election. McCain, on the other hand had raised nearly $115 million by the end of May.
$150 million dollar advantage for the Democrats. Yeah, the Dems are really behind the eight ball here.
Don't get the wrong idea here. I'm not saying that the MSM isn't above adopting the Obama spin for its stories. They haven't jumped off the Obama bandwagon yet.
But Obama's clear financial advantage over McCain is offset in part by the resources of the Republican National Committee, which has far more money in the bank than the Democratic National Committee. Both national parties can spend money on behalf of the presidential candidates.
As to what those numbers actually are the press will leave you blissfully ignorant. Hmmm...I wonder why?
The party ended April with only $4.4 million in the bank, which amounted to only a tenth of the $40.6 million the Republican National Committee has raised. The RNC and presumed GOP nominee John McCain of Arizona have been raising money together since April through their own joint committee, the McCain Victory 2008 fund.
So, the Republicans have a $36.2 million advantage over the DNC, largely because the Republican nomination process ended early enough to concentrate their fundraising efforts (as Obama and Co. are now doing as well.) Yeah, way to "game" the system.
Besides even if you add the RNC money in, Team Obama still has a $114 million dollar advantage. Yeah, that's really "offset" there.
So who exactly is doing the "gaming" here?
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