WASHINGTON — Democrat Barack Obama announced today that he would opt out of the public financing system for general election campaigns, making him the first major party candidate in more than 30 years to rely strictly on private donors to underwrite the crucial final stage of his presidential bid.
Obama’s decision reflects a confidence that he can pull in private donations far exceeding the $84.1 million he would receive from the federal Treasury after he officially becomes the party’s nominee in August.
Yet in spurning public funds, he disappointed some government watchdog groups, which described him as turning away from campaign financing practices intended to curb the influence of money in presidential politics.
“This decision would make Sen. Obama the first presidential candidate since the Watergate reforms to refuse public financing in the general election and fund his presidential bid instead with private money, which often comes with expectations of special access or favors,” said Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, a nonprofit group that represents consumer interests in government.
Obama posted a video message on his Web site explaining the decision. He said that while he is committed to campaign finance reform, he believes that abiding by a “broken system” would be self-defeating. He also suggested that the Republicans would exploit loopholes in the system by pouring money into outside entities that would subject him to “smears and attacks.”
Obama said that “the public financing of presidential elections as it exists today is broken, and we face opponents who’ve become masters at gaming this broken system.”
Obama has proved more prodigious at raising funds than his Republican rival, John McCain. Through the end of April, Obama collected $265.4 million in campaign donations, compared to less than $97 million for McCain, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
McCain’s campaign said today that it has not decided whether to accept public funding. McCain aides quickly seized on Obama’s announcement, casting it as a broken promise.
“Politics got the better of Barack Obama this time,” said Brian Rogers, a McCain spokesman. “That’s not the new kind of politics that he’s promised.”
In a questionnaire that Obama received from a Midwest network of good government groups in November, he was asked if he would forgo private funding provided his opponents did the same.
Obama answered: “Yes.”
“I have been a longtime advocate for public financing of campaigns combined with free television and radio time as a way to reduce the influence of moneyed special interests,” he wrote.
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