so the reason i jumped on your comment was not so much to correct you (as i understand that was not the point of your comment), but i didn’t want your comment to confuse the mods or jane if they are reading this thread on the issue of “mccain said.”

Oh, I’m sure that’s the case. I didn’t see that difference as significant; and was just off the cuff noting that the remarks appeared to be associated with a proposed bill.

Depending on how one chooses to construe “break the law,” as a technical matter perhaps he didn’t. There is no law that limits, per se, a campaign’s spending. But, in order to obtain public financing, a candidate has to enter into an agreement that includes spending limits. Entering this agreement is entirely voluntary – there is no law that says a candidate MUST adhere to the spending limits associated with public financing.

What McCain is in breach of is his agreement with the FEC to limit spending in certain ways, and to permit the FEC to audit his receipts and spending — in exchange for obtaining public money.

McCain argues that since he never took the money, he’s not bound to the agreement. But, McCain used the possibility of public money and the FEC certification that he qualified for it 1) to give comfort to a lender and 2) to obtain an advantage in ballot access in several states.

As to previous opposition: that was then, this is now.

McCain is speaking

that’s the point – all the evidence is that he wasn’t speaking – it was a written addition to the congressional record – NOT a floor statement.

(3) require candidates to be eligible to receive funding under the Presidential Election Campaign Fund Act to have received payments under the Presidential Primary Matching Payment Account Act

The proposed bill would also have changed the dollar for dollar match (up to $250 per donor) to a four dollars for a dollar “super-match.”

Thanks for that.

Here’s a link to the same thing in plaintext, for the PDF averse (still big, 750 kB of text covering other bills as well). CR Page S15412 – November 21, 2003. McCain is speaking on the introduction of S.1913 – Presidential Funding Act of 2003, a bill that was sent to committee, and if acted on, was acted on under a different bill number.

There’s a very persistent error that McCain is now breaching the McCain-Feinglod law. He’s not. McCain Feingold limits contributors of soft money.

What McCain is in breach of is an agreement he entered into, under a 1973 law that created a public financing system for political campaigns that chose to opt in.