Turnabout, Fair Play, Etc.

Over the last week, this very odd circumstance has occurred where Barack Obama is universally chastised for rejecting public money in the general election, yet John McCain is not touched for accepting public money to gain ballot access and get favorable loans, then dropping out of the system without a ruling from the FEC and spending unlimited amounts in the primary.

Part of this was a total ignorance of campaign finance laws from the punditocracy, but also the silence from the top of the opposing organization. The DNC has filed a number of lawsuits, but Team Obama had yet to break the silence over McCain's illegalities and gaming the public financing system.

Until today.

David Plouffe brought a prop to his briefing with reporter: a copy of John McCain's signature on a state election document in which he attested that he'd be taking public financing.

"John McCain is spending tens of millions of dollars, we believe, unlawfully,' he said, waving the document.

They are raising this issue at precisely the right time. Yesterday five FEC nominees were confirmed by the Senate by a voice vote, allowing them to reach a quorum and act on election matters. Until now, the DNC lawsuits subject to consideration by the FEC were pretty much moot because there was, in effect, no FEC. But that has changed, and the Obama camp leaped on this to push back on these context-free charges of duplicity with respect to campaign finance.

When McCain stated in election documents that he will be taking public money, the normal fee for appearing on the primary ballot is waived. That is a material benefit from the public system despite his spending well above those limits. In addition, there is the matter of the campaign loan, which vowed to stay in the public system as a kind of collateral to ensure repayment. The point is that McCain has double-dipped; he benefited from public money without being held to any limits. And he "withdrew" from the system simply by saying "I withdraw" and without receiving a ruling from the FEC, which they are now in a position to give.

This isn't likely to stop the media from droning on about how callous and cruel Obama is for taking money from the public instead of participating in public financing, but is may move the drone in another direction. McCain's asset of being a reformer has already taken a number of hits this campaign season, but this would be one on a clear issue where McCain believes he has the better of the argument. He doesn't; he's a symbol of why the system is broken, and why Obama's parallel public financing system makes a hell of a lot more sense.

...note that McCain actually faces $25,000 in fines and 5 years in prison for what he's doing right now, if it were adjudicated effectively.