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August 20, 2003
Dean May Opt Out Of Public Financing

Bush Campaign Reaching Out to Bloggers (washingtonpost.com)
Howard Dean is smart. Of course, they'll blame President Bush, but it'll be a lie. The Democrats will beat each other to death in the primaries and the winner will come out broke in March, just like the article says -- and I said here, here and here -- and won't be able to spend again until after the convention in August. The same thing happened to Bob Dole in 1996, which precipitated President Bush's decision to forego spending limits in the 2000 primaries. If the Supreme Court upholds the ban on soft money in September the Democratic winner will be relying on free media entirely.

Better to skip the public financing and the spending limits.

Howard Dean, who has proved surprisingly adept at raising campaign money, appears to be having second thoughts about his pledge to participate in the nation's program for publicly financing political campaigns.

The former Vermont governor told the Associated Press that although he intends to keep his pledge, he is also still willing to consider opting out of the program. "Could we change our mind? Sure," Dean said.

The program, designed to lessen the importance of campaign fundraising, provides federal dollars to qualified candidates who agree to spending limits. Earlier this year, Dean said his campaign would join the program.

But he has since proved a prodigious fundraiser. And Democrats have long feared that participating in the program during their primary would put their candidate at a disadvantage, since President Bush is expected to opt out.

Democrats fear their candidate could emerge from the primaries, as early as March, nearly penniless and unable to match the president's unrestricted campaign efforts for months -- until they receive their general election money later that summer, after their presidential nominating convention. It was that scenario that appears to have given Dean second thoughts.

"I think public financing is a good thing. The question is what do you do with an opponent who can murder you" for months, Dean said.

Any Democrat who is serious about winning the Presidency should just skip the public financing altogether.

Posted By Robert Prather (Insults Unpunished) at August 20, 2003 11:36 PM | TrackBack
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