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One of the pillars of the senator presidential campaign is his reputation as a crusader for ethics reform. If new details continue to emerge about his dealings with lobbyists, that reputation could be jeopardized.
This week, he took another hit on that front, after he received a letter from the Federal Election Commission saying he may not be allowed to withdraw from the public financing system -- and then said he would do so anyway.
The move may be necessary for McCain's political viability, because he would be unable to keep pace financially with either of his likely Democratic opponents, Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, under the constraints of the public financing system.
Since the FEC currently doesn't have enough commissioners to form a quorum, there isn't much it can do to stop him from withdrawing. But the move could cost him the moral high ground.
"He's a campaign-finance reformer, but he finds himself in a position of possibly competing against a man who is raising funds at a record pace," said Georgetown political science professor Clyde Wilcox, referring to Obama's record-setting fundraising. "You have to almost feel sorry for the guy, because he believes in this system, [but he may] be running against someone who raised $36 million last month alone."
This week, he took another hit on that front, after he received a letter from the Federal Election Commission saying he may not be allowed to withdraw from the public financing system -- and then said he would do so anyway.
The move may be necessary for McCain's political viability, because he would be unable to keep pace financially with either of his likely Democratic opponents, Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, under the constraints of the public financing system.
Since the FEC currently doesn't have enough commissioners to form a quorum, there isn't much it can do to stop him from withdrawing. But the move could cost him the moral high ground.
"He's a campaign-finance reformer, but he finds himself in a position of possibly competing against a man who is raising funds at a record pace," said Georgetown political science professor Clyde Wilcox, referring to Obama's record-setting fundraising. "You have to almost feel sorry for the guy, because he believes in this system, [but he may] be running against someone who raised $36 million last month alone."
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