As an army moves on it stomach, a presidential campaign moves on its money belt. The recuring battle over whether it is nobler to raise campaign money from (possibly shady) contributions or to loot the federal treasury for your personal benefit has been raised again between Barack Obama and John McCain.
On Thursday, Senator Obama announced that he would not request federal funding for his campaign([link edited for length]). Although he had always supported the idea of federal funding for presdidential elections, and had earlier indicated that he would accept federal funding if the Republican candidate did, he has now said the federal financing system is "broken" and needs to be fixed. The real reason is that the federal system not only provides funding for the candidates, he carries limits on other money collected and how the funds can be spent. Senator Obama has shown a real ability to attract campaign contributions from small contributors. He set a record for such donations received during the primaries. Having made the determination that he could arrract more money the Senator McCain, he decided to do what would help him the most.
Some cinservatives in the press are trying to make an issue of this, incating that Barack Obama promised to accept federal funding and has gone back on his word. John McCain, who also says that he considers Obama's decision not to accept federal funding "is a big deal" says that "Obama or someone in his campaign filled out a questionaire" indicating that he would. But filling out a questionaire about intentions is not a personal pledge, nor is it a contract. The Republicans press want to make a big deal of it because they want to defeat Obama. John McCain wants to make a big deal of it because he is not as good a fund raiser, and if he cannot match Obama in funds, at least would like to have Obama limited in what he can raise. Obama has turned down $85 million in fedederal funds because he thinks he can do better on his own. McCain is accepting the federal money because he believes he cannot do as well on his own.
Barack Obama did not apply for federal funds and then change his mind. He did not make a pledge to his supporters that he would take federal funding. He did not enter into an agreement with John McCain that they would both accept the same limits on contributions. Senator Obama just changed his mind. If the Republican columnists and the Republican candidate are upset, the worst that they can say is that they are disappointed, or that they do not think Senator Obama is a "nice guy". As far as I know, the only presidential candidate whose opponent in the election refered to him as a "nice guy" was Alf Landon. Senator Obama is not playing bridge at the club, he is competing with Senator McCain for the leadership of the most powerful country in the world.
And Senator McCain does not exactly come to a discussion of federal financing with clean hands. After his early primary loss in Iowa, he saw his contributions begin to dry up. At that point, he applied for and was approved for federal financing of his primary campaign. When he won the New Hampshire primary, his contributions picked up again and it appeared he could avoid the federal regulations and raise a sufficient amount of money if he withdrew from federal financing, which he did. But his situation was different from Obama's since once having accepted the federal financing he could not just tell the federal government he no longer wanted their help. He had violated the law, and was not charged because the federal election commission did not have quorum on the board. On June 18, Congressional quarterly reported that the Democratic National Committe has filed lawsuit against the federal Election Commission to force action against McCain([link edited for length]). An earlier lawsuit had been dismissed, sin the FEC had 120 days (until June 23, to take action.
Obama and McCain are fighting for the crown. In other times or other places they might be collecting armies for the campaign. In the United States, the struggle is mainly carried out through advertising and events to persuade the voters to vote for the candidate. Each of the candidates has chosen the method of raising money for that advertaising which he feels will work best for him. The real question here is what the government is doing financing political campaigns. The theory is that the tax checkoff encourages small contributors. Each tax payer can allocate $3.00 of his taxes to fund campaigns. The government has established (not for free) the federal election commission to allocate the money, primarily to the two dominant parties. Voter/taxpayers don't generatlly use the checkoff. People who want to contribute to political campaigns are generally partisans. Their three dollars is basically split between the candidates. Third party supporters do not use the system because it is almost impossible for a third party or independent candidate to qualify for fedral funding. Contributors who support one of the two dominant parties will be contributing as much money to defeat their candidate as to elect him. If federal taxation is to be used to encourage small contributors, a tax credit for a political contribution of up to 1% of income, or a dedecution of up to $100 would encourage more people to contribute, and would obviate the need for a separate government agency.
The system is not just flawed, as both the current candidates agree, it is ridiculous. A part of the idea (encouraging small contributions is just a cover) is to prevent undue influence of large contributors. But it does not forbid large contributions. And most large contributors will be giving to at least both the major candidates. In the case of Obama, while he has done well with the large contributors and will be better when he becomes the nominee his success has been in attracting small contributors. That is where he still holds an advantage over McCain, so that by taking federal financing he would be giving up a legitimate advantage which does not carry the risk of undue influence.
Obama says that he needs to raise more money than McCain because of the Republicans' effective use in the last two elections of 527s, such as the Swift Vote Veterans who campaigned against John Kerry. That is probably a legitimate point, but along side it, one must admit that the Democrats have 527s of their own.
The campaign is going to go on. The candidates are going to spend a lot of money, and this weeks argument will be forgotten. One can only hope that four years from now we can avoid this particular side show. Let's not reform the federal financing system. Let's scrap it
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Published: Saturday, June 21, 2008
Last modified: Saturday, June 21, 2008
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