Public Financing

Amanda Carpenter | February 27, 2008 11:05 AM

Over on Glamour magazine's political blog we are having some good discussion on why matching funds are bad for presidential campaigns.

Here's a part of what I posted yesterday:

"In theory, public financing would level the playing field between Obama, who raised $37 million in January alone, and cash-strapped McCain—exactly what those who cheer public financing think the system should do. (Never mind for now how outrageous it is to ask taxpayers to pony up $85 million for a candidate they may not even support.) The problem is that in a high-stakes presidential election, no one really wants to level the playing field, except the underdog. This explains why Obama thought it was so great before he found his fundraising groove. "