... Let's just say she's gonna have to send the kids to live with her sister up in Buffalo for awhile.

On the eve of the Pennsylvania Presidential Primary, we found out that it has become even more important for Senator Clinton to perform over Senator Obama, if she wants to stay in the race for the nomination through June 3rd.

The campaign filed on the 20th of April, as required by the FEC. Here are some interesting observations at first glance:
[Note: All observations stand true according to the filing as of March 31st 2008]

The campaign's biggest debt remains to be the $5,000,000 loaned to the campaign by Senator Clinton

The campaign, to date, owes Senator Clinton $10,879.89 in interest on the $5,000,000 loan (at a rate of 1.26%)

The Campaign's second largest debt is to Penn, Schoen & Berland Assoc. LLC  
Amount: $4,577,820.61

Just in via release...

With reports indicating John McCain has begun the process of applying for public funds in the general election, the Democratic National Committee today announced that it will file suit Monday with the U.S. District Court in D.C. seeking to compel the Federal Election Commission to conduct an investigation into McCain's decision to unilaterally withdraw from FEC's matching funds program. McCain's campaign is also breaking the spending limits to which they agreed when they applied for the matching funds.

Since the FEC lacks a quorum, it has not been able to begin an investigation into the complaint the DNC filed against McCain in February. Where the FEC fails to act, the law permits a complaining party to file a suit asking the Court to compel the Commission to act on the complaint.  If the FEC still lacks a quorum when the time comes for the Court to direct the FEC to act, the DNC will ask the Court to authorize the DNC itself to bring a suit against Senator McCain and his campaign to remedy their violations of the law.

"Before Senator McCain even thinks about applying for public funds in the general election he should clear up questions about his campaign's compliance with the public funding program in the primaries," said DNC Executive Director Tom McMahon.  "Despite SenatorMcCain's apparent belief that the reforms he championed apply to everyone but himself, there is a compelling public interest in determining whether Senator McCain agreed to participate in the matching funds program so he could get a loan for his campaign, then violated the terms of that agreement so he could ignore the spending cap and raise unlimited money from lobbyists and special interests."

In February, the DNC filed a complaint with the FEC calling on the Commission to investigate whether the McCain campaign is breaking the law by ignoring spending limits in the primary.  Despite the fact that his campaign materially benefited from the matching funds program, McCain's campaign has taken the unprecedented step of unilaterally withdrawing from the program without FEC approval.  FEC Chair David Mason raised questions about whether loans McCain received last year were secured as a result of McCain qualifying for matching funds. McCain also used his qualification for matching funds to qualify for the ballot in several states.  FEC filings show McCain has already exceeded the spending limits for the primaries.

This is pretty simple stuff -- perhaps too simple for the media elite inside the Beltway to understand. The McCain campaign is traipsing around, complaining about some non-agreement they had with the Obama campaign about public financing in a general election. At the same time, the McCain campaign may be willfully and wantonly disregarding the spirit, if not the actual letter, of the laws regulating public financing in a primary election. Specifically, the DNC alleges that the McCain campaign opted into the public financing program, derived material benefit from his acceptance in the program (linking a loan to the program, as well as gaining expensive ballot access), then unilaterally withdrew from the program without the acceptance of the FEC, which would have to sign off on such a move (and might, but would not necessarily, do so in this exact case). Yet whenever we see a write up of or hear a report on John McCain attacking Barack Obama over campaign finance issues in a bastion of the establishment media, there is seldom, if ever, a mention of McCain's own shenanigans.

Will this suit finally shame reporters into covering this issue correctly? It should, but to tell you the truth, I'm not holding my breath...

(You can read more on the initial complaint here.)

Yesterday, Jane Hamsher of FireDogLake officially filed an FEC complaint against John McCain for exceeding the spending limit of $54 million that he agreed to when he opted into public financing originally but which he now finds inconvenient.

Christy puts it well:

As Markos of DailyKos pointed out in joining the complaint, "John McCain has officially blown past campaign spending limits mandated by his original acceptance of public campaign funding. While he has signaled his intent to withdraw from such financing, that has been hindered by the fact that he used the promise of public funding to secure a campaign loan." Guess the campaign finance laws only apply when they aren't inconvenient for McCain's ambitions.

Jane has more as she takes the complaint in to the FEC:

Jane filed the complaint on behalf of bloggers and activists everywhere -- have you signed on? Read the full text of the complaint (pdf) HERE and sign your name on to the complaint HERE.

And what do ya know, looks like CNN noticed:

John McCain's attempted politically motivated gaming of the public financing system is already drawing the attention of the Federal Elections Commisssion, with the chairman of the FEC firing off a letter to McCain's presidential campaign asking them to explain why, after they had been certified to become a part of the program, they believe they're able to pull out without approval. Now the Democratic National Committee is joining in the act, and will file an FEC complaint tomorrow against the McCain campaign.

According to DNC chairman Howard Dean, McCain has clearly received a "material gain" from being a part of the public financing program, and as such cannot opt out of it at this point.

First, McCain was able to get around ballot access rules for the primaries in states around the country -- at a value of $2-$3 million (what Dean's own campaign had to spend on ballot access, having not participated in the public financing system in 2004) -- by participating in the program. Pulling out now would enable him to reap the material benefit of ballot access offered by the program -- again, valued at millions of dollars -- without having to abide by the program's overall spending limit (somewhere in the neighborhood of $54 million).

Second, McCain used the promise of public funds as collateral to help secure a private loan. Once a candidate uses actual public funds in this manner, they have used those dollars, thus locking them into the program. This is key, not only in that it seems to bind him to the program but also in that McCain showed a clear willingness to capitalize on voluntary taxpayer money in order to help him raise more funds from special interest lobbyists (some of whom are at the upper echelons of his campaign staff).

Finally, now that McCain is in the program and hasn't been certified to pull out -- an act that requires a vote of the FEC -- it seems that he may have already gone over the spending limit in violation of the law. As of the last campaign finance filing deadline, McCain was already coming dangerously close to the $54 million threshold, and in the weeks since he might have already passed it.

In short, this is an issue of integrity -- and John McCain's lack of it. What the DNC is asking the FEC to do is fairly simple: Require McCain's campaign to abide by the legally binding contract it created with the federal government to enjoy the benefits of the public financing system -- benefits his campaign has already used -- in return for abiding by the program's spending limits. Soon the ball will be in the FEC's court. Let's see where they go from here.

Update [2008-2-24 15:48:13 by Jonathan Singer]: Howie Klein has the choice quote from Howard Dean:

"The crucial issue here is John McCain's integrity. John McCain poses as a reformer but he seems to think reforms apply to everyone else but him... His latest attempt to ignore the law is just more of his do as I say, not as I do hypocrisy and it calls his credibility into question. McCain financially benefited by accepting this agreement; he got free ballot access, saving him millions of dollars, and he secured a $4 million loan to keep his campaign afloat by using public financing as collateral. He should be held to the law."

By L.C. Johnson (bio/blog)

What's wrong with this picture?  Barack Obama runs as the "outsider" fighting against the "special" interests.  Barack claims:

"I am in this race to tell the corporate lobbyists that their days of setting the agenda in Washington are over. I have done more than any other candidate in this race to take on lobbyists -- and won. They have not funded my campaign, they will not get a job in my White House, and they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I am president."

-- Barack Obama, Speech in Des Moines, IA, November 10, 2007

Okay.  Then if he is the candidate of change fighting Washington, why did a majority of the Washington, DC and the government employees in the surrounding suburbs and those pesky lobbyists and their spouses and employees, vote for Barack?  You see, I believe that people act in their own interest.  So, when the folks who live inside the beltway, vote in large measure for Barack, then maybe he is not what he claims to be.

The Obama cult is a phenomenom.  A weird phenomenom.  People are enthralled with the idea of Obama and know nothing about his past, his performance, and the scandals that will bring him down.  And, smack dab in the middle of the enablers, are most of the TV and print journalists.  Very few are writing or reporting the kind of tough stories they unleash on Hillary on a regular basis.

From Adam B at dailyKos:

By a vote of 4-1, the FEC this afternoon voted to approve its draft advisory opinion denying John Edwards for President's ability to seek matching funds for contributions made via ActBlue.

The John Edwards campaign responds:

"Although today's decision by the FEC is a setback to the progressive grassroots movement, our campaign has all of the resources it needs to aggressively make our case to voters. Even without the ActBlue contributions included, we will meet our projected $10 million in matching funds."

Thanks to commissioner Ellen Weintraub for her efforts in this. Her vote was the lone voice of dissent with the other two Democrats on the committee joining with the Republicans in imposing the most literal reading of the law based on an outdated model of political contributions.

After the public had an opportunity to comment on the prior FEC draft advisory ruling on the question of whether John Edwards's ActBlue contributions should be eligible for federal matching funds (the prior draft ruling found No,) FEC commissioner Ellen Weintraub has submitted an alternate draft (pdf), which would find in favor of Edwards.

The Commission concludes that credit card contributions made over the Internet by individuals using ActBlue's website and subsequently forwarded to the Committee by ActBlue may be eligible for matching funds under the Matching Payment Act and Commission regulations.

As I said yesterday, no matter whom you support for president, such a ruling would be a victory. It's currently being debated by the FEC.