| As I said back when it came out, if Edwards is really limited to the rules of the public finance system, he is finished. Having only $50 million through mid-August to go up against a Republican candidate sure to have well over $200 million is a debilitating disadvantage for the Democrats, and one that can be entirely avoided by supporting one of the other candidates. However, there have been a developments with the story - not all specifically linked to Edwards. The first is that it turns out there won't be money to pay for the public financing in January. Instead, candidates will begin to get payments as tax receipts come in, and will probably receive their first disbursements in March, when the nomination will almost certainly have been settled. While this seems like bad news, it is actually good for Edwards. If I understand it correctly, it means that he can take out loans in the amount that he would be eligible for, delay or withdraw any request for matching funds until after February 5th (something Howard Dean did, though before Jan. 1), and then only accept the matching funds if he was clearly out of contention and just in need of paying back his loan. If necessary he can certainly afford to take out loans on his ample personal assets. John McCain, another guy who is thinking twice about accepting public financing, just did basically all of this. I don't think anyone was naive enough to actually believe Edwards when he said that this was all about public financing being the right thing to do. If people were actually snookered by that line, the fact that Edwards is trying to skirt the nomination procedure to start raising money again shoulddisabuse them of that notion. For me, the whole "public financing is the right thing to do" garbage made him seem like a huge phony. It still bothers me that the campaign still sticks by that line, all the while acting contrary to it. |
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