McCain breaks official spending cap

[WeaselInYerFoot]

Source here (http://www.presstv.com/Detail.aspx?id=48815&sectionid=3510203)


Republican presumptive nominee John McCain has ignored official campaign expenditure limits and has overspent millions in the primary.

According to spending reports filed last week by McCain's campaign, the Arizona senator has broken the limits set by the presidential public financing system.

Candidates such as McCain, who have committed to public financing, are only allowed to spend up to $54 million on the primary. McCain, however, spent $58.4 million.

This is while lawyers of the 71-year-old senator contend that the spending cap does not apply in the current situation.

They allege since the Republican hopeful announced after February 6's Super Tuesday victories that he would withdraw from the matching-funds program he had entered last year, the spending cap does not apply to him.

"The FEC regulations specifically state that candidates who do not receive public funding payments from the US Treasury are exempt from the primary spending ceiling," expounded one of his senior campaign officials.

Chairman of the commission David Mason, however, warned McCain last month that his withdrawal request had not yet been granted.


It's almost humorous that BushCain is breaking the very law he helped make.

[Evanescence]

70% of Americans do not favor the war in Iraq.....he may be in trouble...

His ties with Bush will also be a yoke for him....

If he were smart and honest abut real change, he would have REJECTED Bush's endorsement.....his acceptance only shows the connection...

Here in PA, new Dem registration is up 2000%....up a staggering rate. I'm not sure we'll get what we really want but people surely are coming out of the woodwork to vote....

[Debbie]

I hear Hillary is in the negative also. Not reviewed any support on that...but, just saying.

[Gandalf]

It's almost humorous that BushCain is breaking the very law he helped make.
McCain's no Bush. But it is a terrible, unconstitutional law. And you're right that there's irony in his potential violation of it, though considering how anti-graft he has been, I suspect he believes he's acting legally, however misguided his policy objectives may be.
70% of Americans do not favor the war in Iraq.....he may be in trouble...
Not sure that's a current statistic ... numbers vary widely. With the overwhelming success of the troop surge, is that still valid? And in what sense of "do not favor?" If you mean that they do favor an immediate withdrawal of troops, then why have both Democrats in the race abandoned the approach of talking about troop withdrawals and stopped mentioning the war?
Here in PA, new Dem registration is up 2000%....up a staggering rate. I'm not sure we'll get what we really want but people surely are coming out of the woodwork to vote....
Have you heard of Operation Chaos? Rush Limbaugh may have something to do with those new Dem registrations. He's promoting a campaign to get people to switch their registration to Democrat to vote in those primaries (since the Democrat crossovers essentially chose the Republican nominee, in his view). He wants to keep the chaos in the Democratic Party going as long as possible by having people vote for Clinton so she doesn't drop out yet. His theory seems to be that the Dems' infighting will hurt their chances in the general election and ensure that McCain gets elected. While conservatives such as Limbaugh don't favor McCain's views, they find him preferable to either Clinton or Obama, so will take some actions to get him elected. That might have something to do with increased registrations.

Personally, I suspect it's largely bluster and hyperbole for entertainment value when he says such things, but there are certainly some people who are following his suggestion (whether at his behest or of their own accord) and switching their registrations to vote in the Democratic primary since it's the only one that matters right now.

Recent polls (Rasmussen, MSNBC) show a lot of "toss-up" states, but it appears that McCain has a measurable advantage over Clinton at the moment, and a slight advantage over Obama (though perhaps within margins of error). That changes regularly though ... polls are almost meaningless at this point, except insofaras they affect public opinion.