Tracking campaign finance

BBC News ^ | Updated Sept, 23 2008 | BBC

[justlittleoleme]

Mr McCain has decided to take public financing, which means that from 1 September he has a maximum of $84m [£45m] to spend on his campaign. The McCain campaign is no longer accepting donations, except to its compliance fund - money to pay for lawyers, accountants and other expenses involved in maintaining compliance with federal election laws. The Republican National Committee, however, can still raise money to support the McCain campaign.

Barack Obama is the first candidate not to take public financing since the system was introduced in the mid-1970s. He will have no spending limit.

[justlittleoleme]

The interesting thing is Obama is way outspending McCain and McCain is practically tied with Obama in the latest polls. I guess money can't buy a person everything.

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE49G0V320081019

[MrChips]

Democrats spending money inefficiently! Imagine that! The question is, does the RNC have enough money left to pour it on in the final weeks?!

[elhombrelibre]

Of course, Obama pledged to fund his campaign only with public money before he realized he could sucker a lot of Liberal fools, actors, Soros-types, and unions into coughing up far more than the taxpayers would dole out for his empty-headed pontifications and platitudes. It was one of his more brazen acts of cynicism, which he rightly knew wouldn't harm him a bit with his core constituents, many who'd clamored for this type of restraint on private financing and just as cynically were willing to change their views when it helped their side.

[savedbygrace]

Without his illegal foreign contributions, Team Obama would be nearly broke by now.

[Dawn531]

IIRC, Romney outspent McCain too, but McCain prevailed. Obama has huge sums of money to throw at advertising, but sometimes a large number of ads, over and over again, have the opposite effect. I know I get sick of seeing them, and toward the end of an election, I think a lot of people feel the same. I just wonder, with the country in financial meltdown, if he’d be willing to “spread the wealth around” and donate some of his campaign funds to the needy. /sarc

[hinckley buzzard]

The news this morning reported that Obama took in $150 million dollars last month. I'll bet the list of "contributors" makes for some very interesting reading.

It sounds like the coup is nearly complete.

[napscoordinator]

Mr McCain has decided to take public financing

Mr. McCain has decided to take tax payers money...there fixed. Little government he is not.

[tobyhill]

Obama is a liar and people are stupid if they vote for a this liar. The old Soviet Union told us of this day when Communism would even overtake the US.