September 27, 2007

Edwards Opts In For Public Financing

The Democrats' perpetual No. 3, former Sen. John Edwards, put a little oomph into his campaign this afternoon when he announced that he would accept federal matching funds for the primaries -- and the limitations that go with them.

An Edwards campaign adviser told The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder that the influx of cash means three big players will go into the primaries: "Before we did this, there were only two campaigns [Barack Obama's and Hillary Rodham Clinton's] who thought they'd be around before the primaries with about $20M or $30M on hand. Now, we're going to be right there with them. We're going to have between $18M and $21M on hand now. That'll give us a huge boost."

After a town hall forum in Conway, N.H., last night, Edwards defended his choice to ask for public financing this far into the campaign, saying he wasn't concerned about state campaign finance limits.

"One thing that's clear is that we have plenty of money to compete," he said.

Ambinder has more on the pros and cons of Edwards' decision, as well as the official statement from his campaign that challenges Clinton to follow his lead.

Posted at 6:25 PM
Posted to: Campaigns, Democrats, John Edwards, WH 2008
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