Public Financing In 2008

I don't support Obama or McCain, but this developing argument over public financing, with a flip-flop accusation being thrown, is something which is truly a waste of time. As it stands, the system to get money to candidates is a mess; be it through there own fundraising or through the public option. With such an ease to just use and abuse the system, it is no wonder that people can be criticized for it. No matter your choice, in terms of financing a campaign, your doing something wrong; at least from the view of your opponent. The system must be fixed in a manner to apply to all candidates before we start needlessly wasting time on accusations which WILL NOT fix the system.

There are many aspects to funding which needs to be fixed. But the first way that must be taken is a way to have all candidates, from the two large parties or from third parties, to be able to get public financing, and only public financing, for campaigns. That means that other than the base amount, the rest of a campaign comes from, you guessed it, a single centralized source.

The inability to create a single system for all to use has led to the current controversy.

McCain has openly criticized Obama, because as David Gergen a CNN Sr. Political Analyst said "Obama is sure to come under more fire for his decision to reject public financing this fall. Much of it is deserved: he has clearly broken a vow on a matter of importance to many Americans."

Then Arianna Huffington counters with an argument against McCain (which takes a bit more space to explain):

In the fall of 2007, McCain opted into the public financing system for the GOP primaries, which meant he'd later receive just over $5 million in public funds in exchange for agreeing to a fundraising limit of around $54 million for the entire primary process, which ends when he accepts the nomination at the Republican National Convention in September.

By late November, his campaign was practically broke, so McCain took out a pair of $1 million loans, using the public funds he would receive as collateral.

Cut to Super Tuesday, when McCain had the Republican nomination all but wrapped up. Suddenly, he didn't want to be bound by that $54 million limit, so his campaign did a 180 and opted back out of the public financing system.

But as David Mason, the Republican-appointed chair of the FEC, has pointed out, you can't just unilaterally opt out -- especially after securing a loan based on having opted in. The response of the McCain campaign is quite simply to ignore Mason. And because the FEC currently lacks a quorum (thanks to stalling tactics by that human roadblock to reform, Mitch McConnell) that's where things stand, pending a ruling on a lawsuit filed by the DNC.

Clearly, for all concerned the mess of this is leaving all involved open to criticism and a way to always undercut their opponents campaign when nothing else comes around. This problem needs to be solved, as our elections just won't go away and come around like clockwork, and with those elections will come this problem knocking, each and every time.