State of the Union Comments Here...

[ByteMe]

For the next president I am gona vote for the largest breasted one.

 

[Tim Murray]

For the next president I am gona vote for the largest breasted one.

Does that include manboobs? Because if Dean is the candidate, well, I think you know what to do.

 

[RussSchultz]

I've distrusted as a neoliberal opportunist posing as a liberal/progressive.

Until I read this yesterday:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040121/ap_on_el_pr/dean_15

If he goes through with this he may just get my vote, as this would be huge step in the way of campaign finance reform.

Certainly you see the math and how this scheme is fundamentally prone to corruption.

I "give" $100 to a candidate.
The government gives $500 to the candidate.
I get my $100 back from the government as a tax credit.

I'll be "giving" campaign donations to all my friends and neighbors, and expect the same from them since it doesn't cost me or them diddly.

 

[StefanS]

I've distrusted as a neoliberal opportunist posing as a liberal/progressive.

Until I read this yesterday:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040121/ap_on_el_pr/dean_15

If he goes through with this he may just get my vote, as this would be huge step in the way of campaign finance reform.

Certainly you see the math and how this scheme is fundamentally prone to corruption.

I "give" $100 to a candidate.
The government gives $500 to the candidate.
I get my $100 back from the government as a tax credit.

I'll be "giving" campaign donations to all my friends and neighbors, and expect the same from them since it doesn't cost me or them diddly.

I don't know if that's adaptable to the US, but in Austria it works like this:

Donations to a party are extremely restricted.
The parties finance the campaigning on their own and get a refunding for every vote they have received.
In the presidential election the candidates get the refunding and thus the supportive party.

A lot of European countries have similar schemes.

 

[Clashman]

[
Certainly you see the math and how this scheme is fundamentally prone to corruption.

I "give" $100 to a candidate.
The government gives $500 to the candidate.
I get my $100 back from the government as a tax credit.

I'll be "giving" campaign donations to all my friends and neighbors, and expect the same from them since it doesn't cost me or them diddly.

In Minnesota we have a similar system that isn't abused. What you're discussing is prevented in most systems that have a high level of public financing by having a minimum voter threshold in a major political race, (Senatorial, Presidential, Gubernatorial, and perhaps 2 or 3 others), usually around 5% or so, or by being a candidate for one of the top x parties. If you can't meet the voter threshold and you're party falls from grace, you're not open for the public funds, (and in fact that's how it works at a national level right now, which does in fact have some degree of possibility for public funding, although what is available is generally inadequate to put together a serious national campaign).