Country I Love
2008 June 20
Barack Obama will begin airing his first general election ad, “Country I Love,” today. This article in the Washington Post discusses some of its more subtle, and not so subtle, messages. Another discusses his decision to opt out of general election general financing.
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Dallas
43°
So I’m slightly confused about this public financing business. If Obama did opt in then would he would only be able to spend $80 mil of the >$200 Mil that he already has? Didn’t another article earlier in the campaign mention that he raised most of his money from individual donors going to the site and just giving like $100 donations?
My understanding is that once officially nominated by their party a candidate can either take the $80 million in publicly funded campaign money set aside by the government or raise their own money. If they take the $80 million, they can’t spend more than that between the democratic/republican convention, were they are officially made the nominee, and election day. The $200+ that Obama is spending now does not count because he is the “presumptive” nominee. It doesn’t count for McCain either. Recently, most candidates take the money for the general election so that they won’t be accused of being bought by big business. Obama is opting out because of his success with small donations from individuals. He betting on being able to raise more than the $80 million he could get from government without donations from businesses and lobbyist… At least that is my understanding of it. I hadn’t really paid attention this stuff until this year. I don’t how the money he has already raised factors into the total for the general election.
Oh I see… so basically we need to keep donating! This is definitely the most involved that I have been with any election. Pretty cool that he’s inspiring so many people to get involved.