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McCain and Obama choose different financial strategies

The Associated Press

August 16, 2008

For the general election, Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama are operating under different financial scenarios of their own choosing.

McCain has agreed to accept $84 million in public financing for the general election and the spending restraints that come with it. Though the party committee can raise and spend as much as it wants to help him, the taxpayer money is the only cash that McCain can spend after accepting his party's nomination at the convention next month.

That means he essentially needs to drain down his privately funded campaign bank account this month.

Obama, emboldened by record-shattering collections in the primary, decided to forgo public financing for the general election and became the first major-party presidential candidate in three decades to do so. That means he needs to rely on his significant fundraising capabilities to build up his cash reserves going into the fall, whereas McCain needs to deplete his.