Obama's rejection of public financing is something that everyone saw coming. But it's still big news, partly because it heralds the end of a system that has been in place since 1976, but mainly, I think, because it confirms the awesome power of the Obama cash juggernaut.
Obama will now be able to outspend McCain in the two months between the conventions and the election by...what? 25%? 50%?
Of course, money isn't everything, not even in politics. Mitt Romney ran by far the best-financed campaign of the Republican primary and ended up losing to a guy who never had any money and a guy who had money but threw it away early in the race.
But a financial advantage as big as the one Obama is likely to have will present a problem for his opponent. Obama will be able to stretch McCain's campaign into states they can't really afford to spend money in: Texas, for instance, which should be a lock for the Republican candidate but where a cashed-up Obama campaign can buy advertising and hire staff until the McCain team panic at the thought of losing a big heartland GOP state, and throw money they can't afford at it.
This move doesn't come at a price. The McCain team are hammering away at the fact that Obama said he wouldn't do this, then changed his mind when the money started rolling in. But so far the media seem willing to give Obama an easy ride on this, as they tend to do on most things. Extraordinary really, given the way he treats them.
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