Obama Forgoes Public Funds in First for Major Candidate
WASHINGTON — Senator Barack Obama announced on Thursday that he would not participate in the public financing system for presidential campaigns. He argued that the system had collapsed, and would put him at a disadvantage running against Senator John McCain, his likely Republican opponent.
With his decision, Mr. Obama became the first candidate of a major party to decline public financing — and the spending limits that go with it — since the system was created in 1976, after the Watergate scandals.
Mr. Obama made his announcement in a video message sent to supporters and posted on the Internet. While it was not a surprise — his aides have been hinting that he would take this step for two months — it represented a turnabout from his strong earlier suggestion that he would join the system. Mr. McCain has been a champion of public financing of campaign throughout his career.
"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," he said. "John McCain's campaign and the Republican National Committee are fueled by contributions from Washington lobbyists and special interest PACs. And we've already seen that he's not going to stop the smears and attacks from his allies running so-called 527 groups, who will spend millions and millions of dollars in unlimited donations."
Mr. Obama had pledged to meet with Mr. McCain following the primaries to attempt to work out an agreement on financing. That meeting never took place, aides to Mr. Obama said, because a meeting between lawyers for the two sides was not fruitful. "It became clear to me that there wasn't any basis for future discussion," said Robert Bauer, the general counsel for Mr. Obama's campaign.
Told on Thursday morning of Mr. Obama's decision to opt out of public financing, Charlie Black, a senior adviser to Mr. McCain, charged that Mr. Obama had "broken his word." Mr. Black reacted to the news after a reporter showed him the Obama campaign's statement on a Blackberry in the lobby of the Chicago hotel where the McCain campaign was staying.
Jill Hazelbaker, the McCain campaign's communications director, said later on a conference call with reporters: "The true test of a candidate for President is whether he will stand on principle and keep his word to the American people. Barack Obama has failed that test today, and his reversal of his promise to participate in the public finance system undermines his call for a new type of politics." She added, "This decision will have far-reaching and extraordinary consequences that will weaken and undermine the public financing system."
In fact, Mr. Obama stopped short of making a flat promise to participate in the public financing system. Asked in a questionnaire whether he would take part if his opponents did the same, Mr. Obama wrote yes. But he added, "If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election."
Mr. Obama has since said that he would only agree to such a deal if Mr. McCain agreed to curtail spending by the Republican Party and independent groups.
Mr. Obama's campaign has been notable this year for its success in raising money; he outstripped his Democratic opponents in the primary and seemed well-positioned to out-raise Mr. McCain.
Under the federal presidential financing system, a candidate this year would be given $84.1 million from the Treasury to finance a general election campaign. In exchange, the candidate is barred from accepting private donations, or from spending more than the $84.1 million.
All indications this year are that Mr. Obama will have no problem raising more than that amount for the general election; he raised $95 million in February and March alone, most of it, as his aides noted Thursday, in small contributions raised on the Internet. More than 90 percent of the campaign's contributions were for $100 or less, said Robert Gibbs, the communications director to Mr. Obama.
That said, the Republican National Committee — which does not operate under the same contribution limits as the candidates — has proved to be much more successful than the Democratic National Committee in raising funds.
Mr. Black said that the McCain campaign's fundraising was improving, and that its efforts to raise money in conjunction with the Republican National Committee and several state parties working to elect Mr. McCain — which allows donors to contribute far more than the $2,300 limit that they can give to presidential campaigns alone — was yielding results.
"I assume he's going to outspend us," Mr. Black said of Mr. Obama, but he added that the money advantage would prove to be less important than it appeared: "We don't have to spend as much as he does to win." he said.
For his part, Mr. Obama portrayed the decision to opt out of public financing as one that would limit the influence of special interests in the campaign.
"Instead of forcing us to rely on millions from Washington lobbyists and special interest PACs, you've fueled this campaign with donations of $5, $10, $20, whatever you can afford," he told his supporters in the video message. "And because you did, we've built a grassroots movement of over 1.5 million Americans."
Michael Cooper contributed reporting from Chicago.
No comments:
Post a Comment