John McCain, the self-styled champion of campaign finance reform, took out loans for his campaign. In the first loan agreement, there was that life insurance policy; in the second, there was a pledge to re-enter the public financing system (paid for by you and me and every other taxpayer) long enough to recoup the balance owed to the bank, should his campaign start to tank. See here:
What we know is that McCain found a way to use the public funds as an insurance policy: If he did poorly, he would use public funds to pay off his loans. If he did well, he would have the advantage of unlimited spending.
That certainly puts McCain’s recent challenges to Obama in a new light.
That decision has not stopped McCain from pushing for an agreement with Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) that, if the two became their parties’ nominees, they would return to public financing for the general election.
Last spring, an Obama spokesman said that the Illinois Democrat would “aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election,” and McCain told reporters yesterday that Obama should “keep his word to the American people.”
“If Senator Obama goes back on his commitment to the American people, then obviously we have to rethink our position” on public financing, McCain said in Oshkosh, Wis.
I suppose you only get to talk about commitment to the American people after you’ve actually signed a legal document committing to use the money they gave you to pay off private debt.
