Huckabee: Financing/FEC Could Stymie McCain

[Yellowdogtexan]

Huckabee is not dumb. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jB892tzOUc1w708xuk49pzfZ3yyQD8V3GJT80— Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee said Thursday that John McCain may be unable to campaign for months because of questions raised about his effort to exit the primary election's public financing system.

"Not only do we not have all the delegates all in place for him, there is a question as to whether his campaign is even going to be able to be active between now and September," the former Arkansas governor told reporters in a conference call Thursday.

Huckabee insists on remaining in the GOP race even though he lags far behind McCain, the presumed nominee.

The Democratic National Committee has asked the Federal Election Commission to investigate whether McCain would violate money-in-politics laws by withdrawing from the system. McCain, who had been entitled to $5.8 million in federal funds for the primary, has decided to bypass the system so he can avoid spending limits between now and the GOP's national convention in September.

McCain's campaign told federal regulators Monday that he does not need their approval to withdraw from the system. In a letter to Federal Election Commission Chairman David Mason, the campaign also said McCain did not obligate himself to use his potential share of public matching funds as collateral for a crucial $4 million loan he obtained late last year.

When asked about McCain's situation, Huckabee said the Arizona senator was facing obstacles set up by campaign finance reforms he championed.

"He wrote these laws and one of the reasons I think people need to continue this discussion and this debate is I think one of the worst things that's ever happened to American politics is the McCain-Feingold campaign finance act," Huckabee said. "It has created more problems than it has solved and it may very well be that the law that he pushed comes back to bite him."

If McCain is unable to withdraw from the public financing system, he would be limited to spending a total of $54 million during the primary season, which ends in September. As of the end of January, his campaign had already spent nearly $50 million.

Huckabee, who is campaigning in Texas in advance of that state's primary on Tuesday, said he's holding out hope that neither he nor McCain goes into the GOP convention this summer with the 1,191 delegates necessary to secure the nomination.

"We're not going to just try to push something beyond reason, but there's still a possibility that he won't get those delegates and it does go to the convention. That is a possibility that we're holding out for," Huckabee said. "It just seems ridiculous for us to deny people in many of these states a chance to vote in this election when he has yet to obtain those numbers."The bushies may have to back off having a voter suppression attorney on the FEC and get the FEC back into operation so that McCain can formally withdraw and spend some money. Otherwise, the DNC and Huckabee may be suing McCain for violation of federal election laws and McCain risks going to jail for violating these laws.

[Capitalist]

Huckabee is not dumb. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jB892tzOUc1w708xuk49pzfZ3yyQD8V3GJT80The bushies may have to back off having a voter suppression attorney on the FEC and get the FEC back into operation so that McCain can formally withdraw and spend some money. Otherwise, the DNC and Huckabee may be suing McCain for violation of federal election laws and McCain risks going to jail for violating these laws.

It seems that the real intent here is to silence the opposition or get what they want? Sounds like extortion to me.

McCain should tell them to fuck off. He did not spend a dime of federal money. Besides are Hillera or Obama limiting their spending and accepting public financing?

Hypocrits.

[patriotsblade]

The bushies may have to back off having a voter suppression attorney on the FEC and get the FEC back into operation so that McCain can formally withdraw and spend some money. Otherwise, the DNC and Huckabee may be suing McCain for violation of federal election laws and McCain risks going to jail for violating these laws.


http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa70/patriotsblade/mccain_jail.jpg

:LL

[Yellowdogtexan]

Here are some excerpts from an e-mail that I received from the DNC today. It's been a bad week for John McCain -- and it's only going to get worse.

First, we filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission on Monday. Then thousands of Americans stood up and signed their support for an investigation into McCain's rejection of the law he agreed to when he asked for federal matching funds. Many of you spread it through your personal networks, making sure your friends knew about this startling story.

Now McCain and the lobbyists who work for him have scrambled into action, trying to obscure the facts and hoping that the public wouldn't pay attention.

Thanks to our efforts and grassroots action across the country, this story just won't go away -- we've had him on the defensive all week. Could it be that Americans are tired of leaders who think they're above the law?....

New York Times: "Did Senator John McCain of Arizona benefit unfairly from rules that automatically placed him on the ballot in Ohio once he qualified for public campaign financing?"

Conservative George Will referred to McCain as a "situational ethicist."

Even the right-wing American Spectator admits that Governor Dean has a point:So conservatives who enjoy seeing McCain suffer a campaign finance-induced headache are in the unenviable position of siding with DNC chairman Howard Dean.
Bet they love that!

John McCain is proving to be no different from the swift-boating, vote-suppressing Republicans of years past. That's why we have to hit him hard and hit him fast now, before his campaign has the chance to pick up more momentum. From proving him wrong when he said he was doing "exactly what Howard Dean did," to showing how he used his federal funding to get on the ballot in places like Kentucky, we're not letting John McCain off the hook.....

Thanks for everything,

Tom McMahonMcCain risks going to jail if he goes over the FEC limits. Commission of a felony is not something that should be done lightly. Huckabee is standing by to take advantage of any difficulties that McCain has with the FEC.

This is going to be fun to watch. I am still predicting that the bushies will back down and agree to let the FEC be back in operation so that McCain does not risk committing a felony

[Ringo]

Brokered Convention????? Whichever Republican wins, America wins even bigger!!!

[Yellowdogtexan]

McCain should tell them to fuck off. He did not spend a dime of federal money.I love it when sily laypersons try to understand legal issues. McCain did apply for and was certified to recieve Federal matching funds. Under existing precident, he could apply to the FEC to withdraw from the matching program and not to be subject to the FEC spending limits but the FEC does not have a quorom due to a fight with bush over the confirmation of a voter suppression attorney to the FEC (I love how cappy ran away from that thread). As a result, McCain can not withdraw unless and until the FEC has a quorum which would involve bush backing down.

Only an idiot republican would think that it is a good idea to have the federal agency in charge of enforcing federal election laws out of operation during an election year but that is our bush.

[Yellowdogtexan]

Brokered Convention????? Whichever Republican wins, America wins even bigger!!!I would love to see a brokered convention. McCain is your stongest candidate and if he weakened by a convention fight, then the Democrats would have no problem winning. Of course given the state of the Iraq war, bush's poll numbers and the state of the economy, the Democrats are not going to have any trouble winning anyway.

[Capitalist]

I love it when sily laypersons try to understand legal issues. McCain did apply for and was certified to recieve Federal matching funds. Under existing precident, he could apply to the FEC to withdraw from the matching program and not to be subject to the FEC spending limits but the FEC does not have a quorom due to a fight with bush over the confirmation of a voter suppression attorney to the FEC (I love how cappy ran away from that thread). As a result, McCain can not withdraw unless and until the FEC has a quorum which would involve bush backing down.

Only an idiot republican would think that it is a good idea to have the federal agency in charge of enforcing federal election laws out of operation during an election year but that is our bush.


Layperson? Fuck off, the whole idea is for the democrats to silence McCain, f them and F you and your layperson. How about a stupidperson like you trying to pass themselves offf as an authority?

Did he cash a single government check? Did he spend a single government dollar?

You laftists are just reading the polls on a posible outcome you don't like and are trying to silence the opposition rather than winning and debate on issues, but of course you are , it is a debate you can't win.

[Capitalist]

I would love to see a brokered convention. McCain is your stongest candidate and if he weakened by a convention fight, then the Democrats would have no problem winning. Of course given the state of the Iraq war, bush's poll numbers and the state of the economy, the Democrats are not going to have any trouble winning anyway.

Keep blowing smoke up your own ass, over confidence becomes a loser like you.

[Yellowdogtexan]

Silly and ignorant laypersons are funny when they comment on legal issues. I have explained the issue in simple enough terms so that even an ignorant laypeson should have been able to understand. Again, Mccain filed for and was approved by the FEC to receive federal matching funds. Now that he has won and no longer needs such funds, he wants to withdraw from the federal matching program but such withdrawal requires the approval of the FEC which can not happen now due to bush's stupidity.

McCain is paying a huge price for bush's stupidity. Again, only an idiot would cause the shut down of the agency in charge of enforcing federal election laws during an election year. Bush is such an idiot.

Finally, it is not just the Democrats who are interested in making sure that the federal election laws are enforced. huckabee is a republican and he intends to take advantage of mccain's problems with the FEC. McCain is in this mess due to bush's stupidity and Huckabee is going to take advantage of McCain's problems.

[Capitalist]

Silly and ignorant laypersons are funny when they comment on legal issues. I have explained the issue in simple enough terms so that even an ignorant laypeson should have been able to understand. Again, Mccain filed for and was approved by the FEC to receive federal matching funds. Now that he has won and no longer needs such funds, he wants to withdraw from the federal matching program but such withdrawal requires the approval of the FEC which can not happen now due to bush's stupidity.

McCain is paying a huge price for bush's stupidity. Again, only an idiot would cause the shut down of the agency in charge of enforcing federal election laws during an election year. Bush is such an idiot.

Finally, it is not just the Democrats who are interested in making sure that the federal election laws are enforced. huckabee is a republican and he intends to take advantage of mccain's problems with the FEC. McCain is in this mess due to bush's stupidity and Huckabee is going to take advantage of McCain's problems.

But the key is the democrats fear of an honest debate of the issues, they would rather silence the opposition.

And cut otu the layperson bullshit, your no expert on everything legal asswipe, so get the fuck over yourself.

Again I invite you to insult me in person.

[Yellowdogtexan]

But the key is the democrats fear of an honest debate of the issues, they would rather silence the opposition.Again, the silly layperson is ignoring the fact that Mike Huckabee is a republican. Huckabee is going to take advantage of Mccain's FEC problem and can join in any lawsuit that is brought to enforce the federal spending limits. There is in effect bipartisan support for the enforcment of the federal election laws here.

BTW, romney's hint that he may rejoin the campaign may be based on mccain's FEC problems.

[Capitalist]

Again, the silly layperson is ignoring the fact that Mike Huckabee is a republican. Huckabee is going to take advantage of Mccain's FEC problem and can join in any lawsuit that is brought to enforce the federal spending limits. There is in effect bipartisan support for the enforcment of the federal election laws here.

BTW, romney's hint that he may rejoin the campaign may be based on mccain's FEC problems.

I ignore nothing silly no nothing asswipe. Huck will get nowhere and the democrats are trying to silence their opposition instead of engage it.

[Yellowdogtexan]

The DNC is having fun looking at McCain's campaign filings. Even though McCain did not take federal money, he used his FEC certification of eligibility to receive matching funds to get on the ballot in a number of states. http://www.democrats.org/a/2008/02/mccain_campaign_2.phpFacing questions about whether the campaign leveraged eligibility for public matching funds to gain access to the ballot in several states, the McCain campaign yesterday sunk to a new low. For days the McCain campaign has been playing fast and loose with the facts surrounding McCain's FEC violations. On a call with reporters yesterday, the McCain campaign erroneously stated that the campaign was getting on the Kentucky ballot by collecting signatures. [Wall Street Journal, 2/27/08]

The Democratic National Committee today released documents that show the McCain campaign did not file for the Kentucky ballot by collecting signatures, but by demonstrating that he had qualified for the ballot in at least 20 other states. One of the states the campaign cited was Delaware. As the DNC revealed yesterday, McCain qualified for the Delaware ballot by citing the FEC's approval of his application for matching funds, thereby avoiding the need to collect signatures.

"Not only does John McCain think that he can violate the law by leveraging public funds for private fundraising, but his campaign is clearly willing to mislead in order to cover their tracks," said DNC Communications Director Karen Finney. "How can the American people trust John McCain when he is unwilling to admit he's wrong and follow the law?"

Since the DNC filed its complaint with the FEC on Monday, the McCain campaign has tried to mislead the public by claiming they were withdrawing from the matching funds program in the same way the Dean campaign did in 2003. In fact, unlike McCain, the Dean campaign received FEC approval for withdrawing from the system. McCain's campaign has also refused to admit that the FEC's approval of his application for matching funds helped the campaign secure a private loan and get on the ballot in some states, even though their ballot applications clearly demonstrate that qualifying for matching funds helped them avoid signature collection requirements in Ohio and Delaware.

To view John McCain's application for the Kentucky ballot, click here: http://www.democrats.org/page/-/pdf/McCainKentuckyBallotApplication.pdf

The McCain campaign's application for the Delaware ballot, which relies on his qualification for matching funds, is available on the DNC website at: http://www.democrats.org/page/-/pdf/20071116_McCainCF.pdf

To view McCain's application for the Ohio ballot, click here:
• http://www.democrats.org/page/-/pdf/20071002_mccain_ltr.pdf
• http://www.democrats.org/page/-/pdf/20080104_mccainfiling.pdf
• http://www.democrats.org/page/-/pdf/mccaindistdelatlargeexample.pdf

The FEC's December 2003 letter to the Dean campaign approving his request to withdraw from the matching funds program can be viewed here: http://www.democrats.org/page/-/pdf/20080226_deanfecpermission.pdf

John McCain has refused to acknowledge that the FEC has not approved his request to withdraw from the matching funds program. If the links do not work inside the post, go to the DNC website and you can view McCain's applications to get on the ballots in these states.

Since McCain used his federal certification, he is stuck in the matching fund system and subject to the primary spending limits unless and until the FEC approves his withdrawal. Again the FEC can not act until bush backs down and Mccain may already have gone over the primary limit.

Huckabee (and perhaps romney) gets to piggyback off the DNC's work and use these facts to sue to keep McCain from spending any more money between now and September. Huckabee and perhaps romney are in their rights to insist that McCain obey the law (a novel concept for republicans).

[Yellowdogtexan]

Next week will be fun. Huckabee may have dropped out but McCain's FEC problems remain. We will find out if Mccain has violated federal election laws next week http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/friday-morning-open-thread_14.htmlNext will be, too. Next week, by March 20th, John McCain will file his FEC report for the month of February. We'll see if McCain has violated the campaign finance laws by breaking the spending capIf mccain has gone over the limit, you can expect some real fun next week