In her several talk show appearances on Sunday, Hillary Clinton was asked over and over about fugitive bundler Norman Hsu and each time she diffused the issue by saying that they've put measures in place to make sure something like that doesn't happen again AND she stressed her belief that the solution is public financing of elections. Well, today John Edwards announced he would seek public financing for his primary and, if he wins, general election campaigns, and challenged Clinton to do the same.
"Senator Clinton said she believes public financing is the answer to ending the influence of lobbyists and special interests in Washington," said Congressman Bonior. "If she really believes that, she should join Senator Edwards and seek public financing, or she should explain to the American people why she does not mean what she says."
Sen. Clinton said she is for public financing so she can step forward and show she actually means it."
The Edwards campaign is couching this move as "focusing on the issues that matter to the American people;" it's a matter of principle that further serves to distinguish Edwards from Clinton.
"This is not about a money calculation," Mr. Edwards told CNN's Candy Crowley. "This is about taking a stand, a principled stand, and I believe in public financing."
Message: I'm a person of principle, Clinton says one thing and does another. Of course, it doesn't hurt that taking the public financing makes him competitive with Clinton and Obama throughout the primary. From Ambinder:
"Before we did this," one adviser said, "there were only two campaigns [Obama's and Clinton's] who thought they'd be around before the primaries with about $20M or $30M on hand. Now, we're going to be right there with them. We're going to have between $18M and $21M on hand now. That'll give us a huge boost.""The bigger implication here is that there are now three campaigns with major wherewithall going into the primaries," the aide said.
But could it backfire? Kos notes that the spending cap of around $50 million would have to tide him over through the convention, which isn't until August 25. But after checking in with the Edwards campaign, Kos reports back:
1.) the cap doesn't apply to field, and only 50 percent of advertising counts against the spending cap ($54 million). So they think they'll have plenty of money to get through a primary season that will be over February 5, and have enough to last through the summer;2.) ...they're taking the Obama approach for the general election. That is, they'll opt into public financing only if the Republican nominee does as well; and
3.) even if they're short on money, the 527s can pick up the slack over the summer.
Kos is still a bit skeptical but this certainly puts to rest any fears that Edwards wouldn't be able to compete with Obama and Clinton in the early states. And it just may explain why he's been keeping his powder dry in Iowa.
|
|
|
Permalink :: 27 Comments :: Post a Comment
|
In order to post a comment, you must be logged in. If you have a member account, please log in to comment.
If not, you can make an account right here. It's quick and free.
