Why won Barack Obama agree to public campaign financing?
Critics have argued that this represents a policy reversal as he had previously been a strong supporter of the public financing system. His response has been that this system is “broken”. As an example, while both President Bush and Senator Kerry complied with the federal law in the 2004 campaign, both the Republican and Democratic parties raised and spent millions on their own in advertising that was significantly slanted toward their respective candidates. In addition, the campaign law provides no control over what outside groups can raise and spend. In the best known case, one anti-Kerry group produced the “Swift Boat” ads that relentlessly attacked his record of service in Vietnam.
