I also like this scenario as a way to poke an enormous hole in the myth of McCain or the Republican Party as the candidate/party of self-reliance. Yes, Senator, you're pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps with the tee-tiny insignificant help of a few millions of taxpayer dollars. How nice.

1: Oh, and his reliance on his wife's millions (vis a vis her private jet). Bootstrap that!

OT: Did I miss the discussion of this?

3: Huh. I hadn't read that. I wonder if it all sounds like crazy-talk to the non-bloggy readers.

It took me a while to realize that I had to take other people's feelings into account while blogging, too. (It's not so much that there was a long learning process as that I was blithely unaware for a long time, then suddenly one incident made me realize that a clever tagline on my blog was not worth a breakup.)

I had a dream about watching the general election from a bar in DC with friends and Texas reporting blue. In my dream, I wept. I don't know if I expect that sort of good fortune in the waking day but I would love to see the Dems get within 9 or 10 points and then drop serious cash into the state, forcing McCain to play for Texas. Remember the Alamo!

4: Am a bloggy reader, it still sounds like crazy-talk.

3: you missed a discussion of why there was no discussion of it.

In my dream, I wept.

That's actually extremely touching, 'smasher.

did they officially dissolve their mutual "pledge" to use public financing ?

I don't think so. Obama's view of the issue was that an agreement on something like, but not exactly the same as, public financing would have to take into account the 527s and 501(3)(c)s and I don't think there have been recent negotiations on this. Obama has asked donors not to contribute to those outside groups, so he's being consistent on that aspect of the financing question. I don't know what McCain's doing on that side of things.

I actually think Obama is a bit constrained on this - he can't spend unlimitedly without going back on some of the things he's said about campaign financing, but strategically it wouldn't be good for him to enter the public financing system.

I think Obama has tried to modify his original public financing pledge once it became clear that honoring it would be disadvantageous. And since McCain has his own record of hypocrisy on this stuff, it's not likely Obama will be hurt by it.

Wow, it's been four days since there was a thread about electoral politics. I just wanted to note that I hadn't realized until now that Ed Rendell's wife was a Federal Circuit Judge and that she had been appointed to both her district and circuit court judgeships by one William Jefferson Clinton.

I know it's not meant that way, but read differently washerdreyer's comment makes a compelling case for Clinton.

[ready... set... go!]