He cannot spend it if he raises it. One of the byproducts of his Gang of 14 is that the FEC does not have a quorum to approve his request to drop matching funds. He’s down below $4 million as a limit between now and September.
Note that it took several days of discussion among top lawyers and former FEC commissioners to figure out whether it was even possible to opt out of the public financing system after opting in and qualifying for funds. No one's ever done that. And therefore, no one's ever opted back in, after opting out, after opting in. And therefore, no one's ever borrowed on the basis of a promise to opt back in, after opting out, after opting in.
IOW, they are idiots, but that is beside the point. I am guessing since McCain helped write the crappy Fed. Fincancing boondogle he also knows how to work the system to his advantage through loopholes he knows are there.
It's too bad really. Romney knocked McCain and Guliani out of the race by bankrupting them finaincially in Iowa in April 2007. Then Amnesty hit soon after. McCain did his shady loan money games and stayed a float long enough for Amnesty to blow over. Romney (the best Capitalist in North America) coulnd't beat the Socialist System subsidized by our tax dollars.
I like Romney but even if he is McCain's VP pick, McCain ain't getting a cent of my money since he has already used it (i.e. taxation without representation to subsidize his federal funding loan)
Anyway that is the best sense I can make of it though I feel like I am missing something. If anyone can explain it better than I can please feel free.
The article discusses the opting in and out issues more in depth. Warning - I apologize in advance it is from a liberal site. But finding good Pubbie articles on the issue are pretty scarce now that Mccain is "the chosen one". If anyone has some counservative articles that explain it better please pass them along.