2008 and counting: Edwards opts to take public funding in ’08

Former Sen. John Edwards’s (D-N.C.) campaign said Thursday it will accept public matching funds for the 2008 primary season, and one campaign official said the campaign is expecting to raise about $7 million for the third quarter, which ends at midnight on Sunday.

{mosads}The $7 million brings Edwards to about $30 million for the year, or about $10 million shy of the campaign’s $40 million goal to compete in the first four states. All of those totals are well below the record-breaking hauls of Edwards’s Democratic rivals, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.)

By accepting public funding, the campaign would cap its spending at a sum estimated to be $50 million for the primary.

Aides denied that the campaign is struggling financially, insisting that Edwards’s move to public financing is “the right thing to do.”

“Public financing is the entire basis of Edwards’s campaign,” one campaign official said. “It’s kind of a statement.”

The campaign said it is on the pace to accomplish the $40 million goal it set at the beginning of the race.

“That’s still our fundraising goal,” an aide said. “This will just make us even stronger.”

Experts see the move as a “Hail Mary” play that will give the campaign an infusion of cash that could help win early states. However, if these early results are not achieved, Edwards would not be left with enough money to compete later in the race.

In addition, if he became the nominee, the move could also hamstring Edwards’s fundraising until the nominating convention.
Edwards raised $9.1 million in the second quarter and $14.1 million in the first quarter. By contrast, Clinton reported raising $36.1 million in the first quarter and $27 million in the second, and Obama reported raising $25.8 million in the first quarter and $33.1 million in the second.

“You can’t buy your way to the Democratic nomination — you should have to earn the votes of the American people with bold vision and ideas,” Edwards’s campaign manager and former Rep. David Bonior (D-Mich.) said in a statement. “This is the most expensive presidential campaign in history, by far. And the simple fact is that the influence of money in politics — and the focus on raising money in this election — has gotten out of control. It’s time to get back to focusing on the issues that matter to the American people. That’s why John Edwards has decided to play by the rules that were designed to ensure fairness in the election process by capping his campaign spending and seeking public financing.”

— Sam Youngman and Klaus Marre

Forget Iowa, N.H.! GOP candidates  head to Wyo.

With just three electoral votes and a lack of prominence on the primary calendar, Wyoming is low on the list of places for candidates seeking the White House to visit.

And some of the leading candidates seeking the Republican nomination seem to acknowledge that. Saturday, the state GOP is hosting a presidential forum, but so far, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee have declined to attend.

The front-runner in national polling, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, has not yet confirmed whether he plans to attend; nor has Rep. Tom Tancredo (Colo.).

GOPers who have decided to make the trek to Casper, Wyo., include Sen. Sam Brownback (Kan.), Rep. Ron Paul (Texas) and former Sen. Fred Thompson (Tenn.) — but Thompson plans only to speak to the audience, and not participate in the forum.
Failing to attract the entire presidential field has not dampened the mood of the state GOP, which is calling the event a “once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

And the candidates may have a chance to woo the newest member of the Senate, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), who has yet to endorse a presidential candidate and is not working for anybody’s campaign.

—  Manu Raju

Von Spakovsky hits Senate roadblock

The Senate hit an impasse Thursday on confirming four out of the five current members of the Federal Election Commission (FEC), a task that must be completed by year’s end. In the meantime, the chamber’s presidential hopefuls may want to throw their weight behind Senate Rules Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).

Feinstein said Thursday she has put a hold on Hans von Spakovsky, the FEC nominee opposed by civil-rights and activist groups at the core of the Democratic base. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has led the charge against von Spakovsky, which stems from his advocacy of voter-ID laws that some believe would risk disenfranchising minorities.

Feinstein indicated she would drop her hold in exchange for separate confirmation votes on each of the FEC picks, but Senate Republicans have vowed to make sure that von Spakovsky gets confirmed in a package with his three fellow appointees. If von Spakovsky comes up on his own, Obama, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and their Democratic primary rivals are likely to cast an easy “no” vote — but if Republicans win out and the nominees come up in a group, Obama and his fellow 2008 candidates would face a tough choice.

— Elana Schor

Bloomberg keeps flirting with 2008 bid

Despite New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s (I) repeated insistence that he is not mounting a third-party presidential bid next year, fresh signs to the contrary abound.

The first and most obvious asset the mayor offers — cash with a capital C — has gone from enormous to … even more enormous. According to Forbes magazine’s annual list of the 400 richest Americans, Bloomberg’s personal net worth has more than doubled in the last year, from $5.3 billion to $11.5 billion. That would probably be enough to run for president.

Second, Kevin Sheekey, Bloomberg’s political guru, recently was listed at No. 17 on the Esquire 100 as the man behind a potential presidential run. The brief write-up is a basic blueprint for how Sheekey would approach a Bloomberg run, from micro-targeting to message to “media blitz.” According to the story, Sheekey kidded, “There are only 30 times more voters in the entire country than in New York City.”

“Sheekey is betting that he has the man, the message and the money to make a serious run,” Thomas Kelly wrote in the piece.
And last is the mayor’s ambitious travel schedule for the near future.

Bloomberg is scheduled to go to Britain to address the British Conservative Party as well as New Orleans and France. The itinerary jokingly was referred to in the New York Post as a “nonpresidential campaign tour.”

The word from Bloomberg: “The mayor’s said he will spend his time in office working on issues important to the city and the country and that’s exactly what he’s doing,” a Washington-based Bloomberg aide, Lindsay Ellenbogen, said.

— Sam Youngman

Thompson mines unusual spots to end quarter

Former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) is eschewing some of the more traditional campaign cash hot spots as the third — and his first — campaign fundraising quarter comes to an end.

Thompson’s schedule for the end of the week had him in the small Tennessee towns of Clarksville, Murfreesboro and Franklin on Thursday and in Jackson and Memphis as well as Drew, Miss., on Friday. The former senator will spend the weekend in Wyoming and Iowa.

While former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) have been raising funds in California all week, the latter with a detour to Utah, Thompson’s aides said the Volunteer State’s wealth should not be overlooked.
“Why go to California when he can go to Tennessee where there’s a great deal of money and people know him?” one Thompson campaign official said, although one source stated Thompson would be breaking up his weekend to visit with some national money players at a stop in Colorado.

— Sam Youngman