The Campaign Finance Institute has issued this report. From the press release:
- With George W. Bush, John Kerry and Howard Dean rejecting public financing for their 2004 presidential primary campaigns, any serious candidate in 2008 will have to consider doing the same. Yet after analyzing 2004, a politically diverse CFI Task Force has concluded that a sound matching fund system is still very much in the public interest.
Matching funds have helped Republicans and Democrats, conservatives, liberals and moderates. From Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush, to John Edwards, Wesley Clark, Dick Gephardt and Joseph Lieberman, public matching funds have helped underdogs make their case to the public against far better funded opponents. Without a sound system, future campaigns could well be limited to front runners and rich people.
But for the system to continue serving a useful role, its 30-year old rules need to change.
* Spending limits are too low and inflexible, leaving candidates with no escape hatch if they face an opponent who rejects public funding;
* Candidates continue to depend on large private donations, with not enough small donors participating during the competitive phase of the primary
* season. A sound system also needs to make a modest adjustment to its income base. Use of the voluntary income tax check-off has dropped, despite a history of polls suggesting substantial support for presidential public financing.
The Task Force