The NY Times offers this report, which begins: “Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, issued an unusual challenge to his rivals on Wednesday. He proposed a voluntary agreement between the two major party nominees that would limit their fund-raising and spending for the general election”
Another snippet: “In a Feb. 1 filing with the Federal Election Commission that was made public on Wednesday, Mr. Obama said that he, too, would seek enough private donations to remain competitive, but with a twist. He asked the commission if he could begin soliciting private donations with the understanding that he might later return the money to his contributors. If he won the Democratic nomination, he could then strike a deal with the Republican nominee to return their private donations and use only public money for the general election. For 2008, that would limit each general election campaign to about $85 million.”
The request advisory opinion is posted here and it is being expedited, with the 10 day comment period already running. It will be interesting to see if the reform community lines up behind the Obama request or opposes it. I’d expect they would support this, but I’d like to hear if there are reasons why they might not.