Today, I came across a story about McCain directly confronting Obama on the use of public financing during the general election. Evidently, early on in the race, Obama asked the FEC for guidance if it was allowable to use public financing for the general election, if he used private financing during the primaries. The goal was to use public financing if his Republican challenger would play by the same rules:
[Obama] has asked for guidance from the Federal Election Commission on whether he could reverse course if he wins the Democratic nomination and his Republican opponent accepts public money.
That plan was approved by the FEC:
Federal regulators ruled this morning that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) will be permitted to collect money for a potential general election presidential campaign without foreclosing the possibility that he will still accept federal funds for that phase of the campaign.
