Obama, McCain Would Agree to Public Campaign Financing

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Obama, McCain Say They Would Agree to Public Campaign Financing - Yahoo! News

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Democrat Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) and Republican John McCain (news, bio, voting record) said they'll accept public funds -- and spending limits -- for the 2008 presidential election if they win their party nominations and their opponents agree to do the same.

The two U.S. senators reacted today to a ruling by the U.S. Federal Election Commission allowing Obama to raise money for a general campaign and return it later if he decides to accept federal funds. Obama said he'll keep money for the general election in a separate account and not spend it.

Their moves may shore up the three-decade-old public funding program, which was in danger of collapse as candidates opted out to avoid the program's spending limits. Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton led the way in rejecting the system by beginning to raise funds for the general campaign right away.

"If Senator Obama is the nominee, he will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election,'' Obama spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement e-mailed to reporters.

McCain's campaign manager, Terry Nelson, then followed suit.

"The McCain campaign will now begin the process of accepting these general election funds, following the new FEC guidelines,'' Nelson said. "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.''

That should help reduce fears of favoritism towards big donors. Also, as they would have limited funds, campaign money would have to be spent very wisely. It might reduce the amount of negative campaigning.

Phil_J · Joined: May 31, 2006 Posts: 256 Location: Manchester, UK

I'm optimistic about the 2008 elections, I rather like all of the current frontrunners and if the parties do manage to make unilateral accords like this one work then it could be a more honourable campaign than has been the case in recent years.

ejward · Joined: Jan 06, 2003 Posts: 7054

Wow... this is it. This will make or break public campaign financing. If one of them wins, public financing will be the way to go from now on. If they lose, you'll never see anyone take public money again.

Now we'll REALLY see who the fiscally responsible person is. I think it's great. It's one of those things that would really sway my vote. They BOTH score points for me.