Monday, April 21, 2008

McCain Accepts Public Funds...Good Or Bad For Him?

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0408/9737.html

John McCain, the eventual Republican nominee, has decided to use federal dollars in order to fund his campaign, which limits how much he is able to spend. Even so, he will be eligible for $84 million, which is no small amount of change. Obama, who many people feel will be the Democratic nominee, has raised around $236 million so far, a huge amount when compared to what McCain gets to spend. Since Obama is not accepting public funds, he can spend and receive as much as he can possibly want. I'm not sure this was wise of McCain, but it could work out, too. Obama is going to have to spend a large amount of his money just securing the nomination, and in doing so he may exhaust the pocketbooks of many of his donors. I also have faith in Republicans being able to stretch each dollar as far as it can go. In 2004, John Kerry outspent President Bush by a wide margin, yet Bush was able to win the presidency. McCain will also be able to have a sort of matching funds program with the Republican National Committee. Money is important, but I think it is vastly more important for the money to be spent in the most effective manner. When a candidate has a vast surplus of money, often those funds are not spent in the wisest manner, so I think it will be interesting to see how much of an effect money has on the outcome of this election.

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