Top-tier '08 candidates expected to turn down all public funds; $83 million not enough to win

[DeepModem Mom]

LAT: Just $83.8 million? No thanks
Clinton passes on public funds for '08, and other candidates are likely to. They need real money.
By Dan Morain, Times Staff Writer
January 22, 2007

For the first time since the nation launched its grand experiment with publicly financed presidential campaigns three decades ago, major-party nominees in 2008 are expected to turn down all public funds.

The reason: The grant, expected to be $83.8 million, might not be enough to run a winning campaign.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-New York) is the first top-tier candidate to tip her hand that she intends to leave the public money on the table. Senior Clinton advisor Howard Wolfson said by e-mail Sunday that she would not take matching funds in the primary campaign or, if she wins the Democratic nomination, in the general election....

***

Abandonment of the public financing system would threaten the survival of a Watergate-era measure that was supposed to limit the influence of big donors in presidential politics and enable more candidates to compete....

The system is being rendered obsolete by escalating campaign costs, sophisticated fundraising techniques, tepid public support and major candidates such as Clinton who could raise $100 million on their own before the first 2008 primary — and $500 million by election day....

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-publicfinance22jan22,1,599345.story

[zalinda]

1. Not only may it not be enough money, but

it also has time constraints on it, which can be very troubling to a campaign as Kerry found out.

zalinda