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Is Public Financing Broken?

Obama says "Yes."

In a video distributed to his supporters, Obama justified his decision by declaring that "the public financing of presidential elections as it exists today is broken."

Feingold says "No."

"While the current public financing system for the presidential primaries is broken, the system for the general election is not."

Hmm. I'm going to go with Feingold on this one.

And it's notable that Public Financing watchdog groups say the same thing.

[I]t's the primaries where the public financing system needs work, not the general election. Obama's campaign ... should have been a model of his dedication to campaign finance and ethics overhauls.

Maybe Obama should have picked a better reason to drop out of public financing.

How about, "It would hamstring me financially in a way that was totally unpredictable when I agreed to it last year. I am withdrawing so that I can have more money to campaign with."

Refreshing honesty would be a nice change.

Full post as published by Expressio Unius on June 19, 2008 (boomark / email).