Quote:
Originally Posted by albionmoonlight
this might not be the right place to ask this question because I am looking for a practical and not a political answer (to the extent that they can be separated). But here goes:
What advantage did Obama get by opting out of public financing? Assume for purposes of this question that he will raise the amount of money that he was expecting (probably not true, actually, but not the point of my question).
I note that McCain is still raising money online for his "compliance fund" and that the DNC and RNC can still raise money hand over fist with no regard to the matching funds spending limit.
So, seeing how the spending limit seems to just be a matter of putting money in the right boxes (as opposed to slowing down fundraising at all), didn't Obama just give McCain $84 million for nothing?
What advantage--practical not theoretical-does opting out of the system have?
|
I think the articles citing Obama's financial demise is campaign spin.
I don't believe they're doing as bad as they say they are. I think they're just trying to squeeze more juice out of the lemon.
Conversely, it took a hell of an effort for them just to beat Clinton and so, it was probably foolhardy for him to sip his own Kool-Aid and believe he could continue to raise at that level.
But the campaign finance system would've taken them off familiar playgrounds and put them in territory they don't know well.
I suspect McCain knew the holes of the campaign finance laws and used it as an exploit, whereas Obama and Co. don't as well and saw the flaws enough to saw what it did to Kerry.
The problem isn't matching McCain + RNC dollar for dollar, it's the 529s who support their cause that the Dems are really worried about. But the absence of them making a dent in this race so far, has people thinking he was seeing a ghost back when he talked about taking on the GOP's money machines as to why he opted out.
I don't think if he loses, it'll have had anything to do with opting out. And given how much they've invested in their ground infrastructure, plus the boatloads they've spent already...I think the real issue is simply waiting until the last 30 days or so of the race and pushing hard on people who will get their momentum back to fuel him to the finish line financially.