If Obama has pending legislation for public campaign financing

[Horse with no Name]

Why didn't he use it for his campaign?

[jlake]

1. Because he wants to win. He supports it as an ideal,

but knows he cannot be competitive when others do not participate and he does.

[jackson_dem]

2. He is getting too much from the status quo

[origin1286]

3. Because he wouldn't have had a chance

Public financing provides matching funds (to a certain amount) to a candidate who uses public funds if they're facing an opponent who took private funds. But since it's not a law, he wouldn't have been able to compete monetarily (and as we see, that is necessary).

Public campaign financing must be optional for candidate.

Supreme Court Buckley v Valeo 1976