So John Edwards has decided that he’ll take public funding for his campaign after all:

Edwards is the first top-tier Democratic candidate to agree to this funding mechanism, and he noted it will include the primary and general elections. Although he has already begun raising money for the general election, federal law requires him to return those funds if he accepts public funding.

I’m a little undecided on how I feel about the public financing of presidential campaigns (unlike The Kos, who calls Edwards move “stupid“):

• On one hand, I don’t think that the government should spend taxpayer money to promote the partisan political viewpoints of candidates for office.
• On the other hand, voters shouldn’t only be subjected to mostly one partisan side because that side is better at raising money from special interests that would like to influence policy at the taxpayer’s expense.
• On one hand, I think US democracy lacks basic fairness because wealthy individuals (such as George Soros) and special interests (such as the oil companies) have far greater political leverage because their ability to donate substantial amounts of money far outstrips the amount that the average citizen can contribute. I think that the only way to end the corruptive influence of large private contributions is to ban all private contributions.
• On the other hand, I realize that private donations are one of the best ways for ordinary citizens to participate in the democratic process (other than voting and/or running for local office).

Here’s a good explanation of the history of public financing of presidential campaigns.

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Around the blogosphere today, most think this is a bad sign for the Silk Pony:

Pam at Right Voices:

Edwards is not the first choice, nor the second. He inability to raise money is obviously driving this. I see this as a slap in the face to all those middle class people he claims to represent!

Ron at Liberal Values:

For John Edwards, “principle” means a view that changes based upon what is the most beneficial for John Edwards at the time. The legal training to argue either side of an argument convincingly has paid off well for him. With regards to matching funds, Edwards held different “principles” back in February:

Oliver Willis:

That kind of decision leads me to believe that the train is just about to leave the station. For a Democrat to be president they must compete and possibly even exceed the amount of money the GOP will/can raise.

Ordinarily I disagree with just about every single word that comes from either Ollie or Markos — but I’m with them on this one. I think Edwards decision to accept the public financing portends the dire state of his campaign.

Posted by Robbie Cooper on Friday, September 28th, 2007 | Trackback |