USA Today (via David Sirota):
Michael Toner, chairman of the Federal Election Commission, says he expects that "for the first time ever," nominees of both parties in 2008 will opt out of the public financing system for both the primaries and the general. "The stage is set for the first billion dollar presidential election," Toner says, predicting the eventual nominees will raise $500 million apiece. Top-tier prospects such as McCain, Giuliani, Romney and Clinton should plan on raising $100 million by the end of 2007, Toner says. "If you’re not in that ballgame, it’s going to be hard to be taken seriously."
You pretty much have to buy your way into democracy these days. That's what George W. Bush did. Going into the 2000 campaign, Bush had a campaign chest of $100 million and, no matter whether or not you believe his win was legit, you have to admit that he got the Oval Office by the skin of his teeth. $100 million was very nearly too little.
This would be an excellent time to consider full public financing of federal elections. Each candidate gets a set amount to spend. If you want to spend more, you can, but if you opt out of federal funding, you're all on your own -- you have to fund it all yourself. Even better, if you do exceed the spending limit, the opponent automatically gets matching funding. There goes the incentive to spend more.
It makes a lot of sense -- which is why I'm not holding my breath. Other than a concern for democracy, there's no reason for incumbents from either party to go for this.
Tags: news | politics | elections | 2008 | democrat | republican
