I would hope that Obama steers clear of public campaign financing... its a disaster in the making on all sides, unless limits are put in place concerning 527's and PACs. The last thing the country needs is those folks having a field day, as they would effectively take over the campaigns from the candidate. John McCain had some interesting comments in 2004.
http://rules.senate.gov/hearings/2004/031004_mccain.htm
Ultimately, as quoted from
http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=02&year=2008&base_name=would_you_make_a_pledge_with_t
A commitment to "preserve a publicly financed election" would have to mean much more than whether both participate in the system. It would require some significant agreement about how to handle outside money, 527s, "Swift Boat"-type attack groups, party money, etc., and other factors that have undermined the last two publicly financed elections, from both sides.
The last thing the country needs is Swift Boats vs Moveon, as effectively, that moves us back towards partisan politics as usual.
Now, if the two campaigns can address the outside money issues, somehow without stepping on free speech concerns (not so easy) I think public campaign financing is a great way to go, but its unlikely to happen anytime in the near future. It will be interesting, thats for sure.
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