Obama Opting Out Of Public Finance
Barack Obama made a big announcement this morning via YouTube: That his campaign is opting out of public financing for the general election, and foregoing $80 million in government money:
Obviously, Obama would not be doing this if he did not reasonably expect his small-donor base to get him even more cash, free of restrictions that come with public finance, and that he'd be able to outspend John McCain.
The Republicans are likely to hammer him as a hypocrite for this, as he'd indicated a year ago that he wanted to broker a deal with the GOP nominee to both opt into public finance -- which the lesser-funded McCain campaign has been trying to hold him to.
Obama has his answer to that: That McCain has declared he won't police 527 activity on his behalf, which would defeat the purpose of public finance. Declaring the finance system broken, Obama added, "We face opponents who have become masters of gaming this broken system."
The big questions now are whether any attacks over opting out would actually have political pull, and whether his donor base will be able to come through in the way the campaign is betting they will.
Late Update: The McCain campaign blasts Obama for the decision.
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