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Campaign Crawlers

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The McCain campaign insists that it has a constitutional right to withdraw from the system, and that it doesn't need the FEC's rubber stamp. But another legal view is that applying to be in the public financing system is the equivalent of entering into a contract in which terminating the agreement requires the consent of both parties.

Adding to the irony is that part of the reason there aren't enough FEC commissioners is that Barack Obama put a hold on one of the Republican nominees last year.

Smith, who has been a fierce critic of burdensome campaign finance regulations, said that the McCain campaign probably has the better of the argument, but because this area of law is so new, the issues raised remain open questions and McCain's case is not a "slam dunk."

Clearly, McCain intends to ignore the spending restrictions and operate as if he has legally withdrawn from the system. Smith predicted that either the FEC will never be able to reach a quorum during the election, at which point the case becomes moot, they will convene and vindicate him, or in the worst case scenario, McCain will be fined a maximum of $25,000 way down the road.

If anything, the issue will become a public relations problem for him, Smith said. Even if he is cleared legally, it opens McCain up to criticism that he hired clever lawyers to game the system, which is exactly the type of practice that he has been railing against for years.

But the bottom line to Smith is that it highlights how ludicrous the current system is, which he said is wasting $200 million in taxpayers' money every four years.

"The whole reason for taxpayer financing is that it's supposed to make campaigns cleaner and alleviate these concerns about corruption," Smith said. "But what did it do here? It's actually creating concerns about corruption... It's kind of ridiculous. It's counterproductive. It's supposed to free up candidates from fundraising so they can talk about issues. But what are we talking about? We're talking about compliance with arcane elements of campaign law."

Earlier this month, it was Barack Obama who was taking heat from McCain for backing off a pledge to enter the public financing system if his Republican opponent agreed to do the same.

"The law has less to do with preventing corruption, and simply is a tool, a weapon, that the candidates have that they can try to beat each other up with if it's to their advantage," Smith said.

topics:
John McCain, Barack Obama, Constitution, Law, Oil