Obama drops pledge, seeks donor funds

Presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama - the “people-powered” presidential candidate who previously promised to publicly finance his campaign - on Thursday abandoned that pledge, becoming the first candidate since the funding system’s post-Watergate creation to decline the money.

The decision to forgo more than $84 million in public funds and instead raise massive sums from a 1.5-million-donor network was hailed by supporters as allowing his fundraising juggernaut - which went live with ads in 18 states Thursday - a clear advantage against presumed Republican nominee Sen. John McCain.

But Mr. McCain, other national Republicans and some campaign finance reformers excoriated the senator from Illinois as breaking trust with voters.

Mr. Obama is the first major party candidate to decline public financing of the general election campaign since 1974 when Congress created the system designed to reduce the influence of wealthy donors in politics. It’s a system Mr. Obama once said he “strongly” supported but now believes is “broken” and being manipulated by Republicans.

TWT EDITORIAL:Obama reneges

The senator revealed the long-anticipated move in a Web video to his massive list of supporters, urging donations and underscoring the reason he is opting out.

“If we don’t stand together, the broken system we have now, a system where special interests drown out the voices of the American people will continue to erode our politics and prevent the possibility of real change,” Mr. Obama said. “Join me, and declare your independence from this broken system and lets build the first general election campaign that’s truly funded by the American people.”

McCain aides said Mr. Obama has proved himself a “typical politician” since he retreated from his pledge to “aggressively” try to reach an agreement, and the Democrat acknowledged to supporters it was no easy decision, “especially because I support a robust system of public financing of elections.”

Mr. McCain told reporters Thursday he will stay within the public financing system and called the Obama decision a violation of trust that he considers “disturbing to all Americans.”

“This is a big deal,” the Arizona Republican complained, saying Mr. Obama “completely reversed himself.”

In 2000, Republican George W. Bush became the first candidate to scrap public financing in the primary, and most major-party primary candidates have followed suit.

Sen. Russ Feingold, Wisconsin Democrat who partnered with Mr. McCain in 2002 to reform campaign finance laws by primarily eliminating the unregulated flow of cash to national political parties, disputed the Obama premise that the system is broken.

Mr. Feingold also praised his own proposed bill to reform the system again, a measure Mr. Obama supports and Mr. McCain does not. The Feingold bill increases the public financing spending limits from $75 million to $100 million per candidate and eliminates state-by-state funding limits for the primaries. It requires disclosure of big donors who bundle multiple donations.

“Senator Obama is committed to reforming the current system, and I look forward to working on this and a wide range of other reform issues with him when he becomes president. But this decision was a mistake,” he said.

Mr. Obama, who had $46.5 million in the bank as of April, will solicit money from the same private donors who helped him raise more than $265 million since the campaign began in January 2007.

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