Edwards’s Embrace of Public Money May Be Limited: Could reject for general election

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: New York Times

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: September 29, 2007


(Jim Cole/Associated Press)
Former Senator John Edwards campaigned on Friday in Claremont, N.H., as his advisers clarified recent statements.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 — A day after John Edwards said he had decided to participate in public campaign financing as a matter of principle, his campaign manager appeared to scale back the candidate’s initial commitment

The campaign manager said Mr. Edwards was leaving open the possibility of rejecting public financing for the general election campaign.

Mr. Edwards’s campaign advisers said he had not meant to commit himself for the general election, but the discrepancy added fuel to a debate over why he had abruptly embraced public financing after long signaling that he would not.

In an interview with CNN on Thursday, Mr. Edwards said he was accepting the benefits and limits of public financing to support the system, which was adopted after Watergate to limit campaigns’ dependence on big donors. Asked about the general election, Mr. Edwards told CNN, “We are talking about through the campaign, period.”.

“It’s not about a money calculation,” he said. “This is about taking a stand, a principled stand, for what’s right. I believe in public financing.”...

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/29/us/politics/29edwards.html?8dpc