A Broken System
Recently, Barack Obama made an important decision for his campaign, when he announced that he would not participate in the public financing system for the general election.
He could have receive more than $80 million in taxpayer funding for his campaign, but opted out. Obama insists the public financing program has been broken, because Republicans have exploited its loopholes.
The Republican National Committee, and their 527 groups raised and spent unlimited contributions in 2004, and will again manipulate a broken system. For example, the current ambassador to Belgium, Sam Fox was rewarded by Bush for donating $50,000 to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group that launched ad campaigns assailing John Kerry’s service in Vietnam during the 2004 presidential election.
Earlier this month, a top McCain adviser told MSNBC: “now that we’re in the general election, the RNC money counts...” Consequently, McCain has more cash on hand and than Barack Obama does.
In April alone, Republican’s raised nearly $45 million. That’s more than Obama’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee combined. That money doesn’t include the plans of 527 groups like the one called “Freedom’s Watch,” which has said it will spend as much as $250 million under Karl Rove’s direction to attack and defeat Barack Obama.
In order to compete, Obama must put his faith in ordinary people giving only what they can afford. That has been the strategy of his campaign from the very beginning, and more than 1,500,000 supporters have made contributions.
Americans have a historic opportunity to prove that a movement of ordinary people has the power to change the way political campaigns are funded. The Obama campaign has a goal of getting 50,000 new contributors to declare their independence by making a donation before July 4th.
Opting out of public matching funds was an extremely difficult decision, and it puts Obama at a disadvantage when it came to raising money. Unlike John McCain, his campaign has never accepted donations from Washington lobbyists or special interest PACs.
McCain has built his fundraising strategy around high-dollar donors giving huge checks to the RNC. On the other hand, Obama supporters hope to create a new model for publicly financed campaigns, by getting small donations from two million contributors.
He could have receive more than $80 million in taxpayer funding for his campaign, but opted out. Obama insists the public financing program has been broken, because Republicans have exploited its loopholes.
The Republican National Committee, and their 527 groups raised and spent unlimited contributions in 2004, and will again manipulate a broken system. For example, the current ambassador to Belgium, Sam Fox was rewarded by Bush for donating $50,000 to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group that launched ad campaigns assailing John Kerry’s service in Vietnam during the 2004 presidential election.
Earlier this month, a top McCain adviser told MSNBC: “now that we’re in the general election, the RNC money counts...” Consequently, McCain has more cash on hand and than Barack Obama does.
In April alone, Republican’s raised nearly $45 million. That’s more than Obama’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee combined. That money doesn’t include the plans of 527 groups like the one called “Freedom’s Watch,” which has said it will spend as much as $250 million under Karl Rove’s direction to attack and defeat Barack Obama.
In order to compete, Obama must put his faith in ordinary people giving only what they can afford. That has been the strategy of his campaign from the very beginning, and more than 1,500,000 supporters have made contributions.
Americans have a historic opportunity to prove that a movement of ordinary people has the power to change the way political campaigns are funded. The Obama campaign has a goal of getting 50,000 new contributors to declare their independence by making a donation before July 4th.
Opting out of public matching funds was an extremely difficult decision, and it puts Obama at a disadvantage when it came to raising money. Unlike John McCain, his campaign has never accepted donations from Washington lobbyists or special interest PACs.
McCain has built his fundraising strategy around high-dollar donors giving huge checks to the RNC. On the other hand, Obama supporters hope to create a new model for publicly financed campaigns, by getting small donations from two million contributors.
posted by Jim O'Leary | 12:01 AM
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