John Edwards Decided to Adopt Public Financing Two Months Ago

Overlooked by many, it was revealed in a conference call Monday with the Edwards campaign that John Edwards made the decision to adopt Public Financing for the Democratic primary over two months ago after YearlyKos. The decision was made by John Edwards himself after he began to take Clinton on for taking lobbyist money. Clinton claimed that the real solution to the money problem was public financing and not lobbyist money. He felt that instead of just advocating for public financing, he should be a role model for his position.

The Fix

The idea, said Trippi, was first broached by Edwards roughly two months ago and initially pooh-poohed by his political advisers. Why? Because of the spending strictures the acceptance of public financing places on a candidate in individual states ($1.5 million in Iowa and roughly $820,000 in New Hampshire) as well as more nationally ($50 million for the entire primary season, which lasts until the national party convention in late August).

The timing of this decision directly contradicts the narrative that John Edwards' campaign decided for him that public financing was just a way to make it's fund raising goal for the third quarter.

It was also revealed, contrary to predictions, that the campaign did make it's fund raising goal for the third quarter bringing their total raised to 30 Million without any matching funds through public financing, further dismissing the narrative.