Obama opts out of federal campaign financing system

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

June 20, 2008

WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said yesterday he will 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, said yesterday he will accept the public funds in the general election, and accused Obama of backtracking.

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 out-raised McCain, however, and would probably retain that advantage over McCain.

"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 yesterday. "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."

In Iowa, McCain told reporters that Obama "said he would stick to his word. He didn't." McCain added: "This election is about a lot of things. It's also about trust. It's about keeping your word."

Obama has shattered presidential campaign fundraising records, raking in more than $265 million as of the end of April. McCain had raised nearly $115 million by the end of May.

Fred Wertheimer, president of the campaign finance watchdog group Democracy 21, said he was "disappointed" in Obama's decision.

"We do not agree with Senator Obama's rationale for opting out of the system," Wertheimer said. "Senator Obama knew the circumstances surrounding the presidential general election when he made his public pledge to use the system."

In response to a questionnaire in November from the Midwest Democracy Network, which is made up of nonpartisan government oversight groups, Obama said: "Senator John McCain has already pledged to accept this fundraising pledge. If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election."

Also yesterday, Obama's campaign announced his first television ad of the general election campaign - a 60-second commercial to air in 18 states, including several that have voted reliably for Republican presidential candidates in the past several elections.

The ad, called "Country I Love," is a biographical portrait that aims to reintroduce Obama to voters by stressing his mother's family's roots.