After McCain has been nominated, he can accept donations for the general election. This deadline is just for donations for McCain in the primaries.
Public financing provides matching funds, not total financing.
The Presidential nominee of each major party may become eligible for a public grant of $20 million (plus a cost-of-living adjustment) for campaigning in the general election.7 To be eligible to receive the public funds, the candidate must limit spending to the amount of the grant and may not accept private contributions for the campaign. Private contributions may, however, be accepted for a special account maintained exclusively to pay for legal and accounting expenses associated with complying with the campaign finance law. These legal and accounting expenses are not subject to the expenditure limit.
In addition, candidates may spend up to $50,000 from their own personal funds. Such spending does not count against the expenditure limit.
Minor party candidates and new party candidates may become eligible for partial public funding of their general election campaigns. (A minor party candidate is the nominee of a party whose candidate received between 5 and 25 percent of the total popular vote in the preceding Presidential election. A new party candidate is the nominee of a party that is neither a major party nor a minor party.) The amount of public funding to which a minor party candidate is entitled is based on the ratio of the party's popular vote in the preceding Presidential election to the average popular vote of the two major party candidates in that election. A new party candidate receives partial public funding after the election if he/she receives 5 percent or more of the vote. The entitlement is based on the ratio of the new party candidate's popular vote in the current election to the average popular vote of the two major party candidates in the election.
Although minor and new party candidates may supplement public funds with private contributions and may exempt some fundraising costs from their expenditure limit, they are otherwise subject to the same spending limit and other requirements that apply to major party candidates.
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Primary Candidates |
General Election |
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Major Party Nominees |
Minor/New Party Nominees |
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National Spending Limit |
$10 mil. + COLA** |
$20 mil. + COLA |
$20 mil. + COLA |
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State Spending Limit |
The greater of $200,000 + COLA or $0.16 x state VAP*** |
None |
None |
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Exempt Fundraising Limit |
20% of national limit |
Not applicable |
20% of national limit |
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Maximum Public Funds Candidate May Receive |
50% of national limit |
Same as national limit |
Percentage of national limit based on candidate's popular vote. |
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National Party Spending Limit for Candidate**** |
Not applicable |
$0.02 x VAP of U.S. + COLA |
$0.02 x VAP of U.S. + COLA |
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Limit on Spending from Candidate's Personal Funds |
$50,000 |
$50,000 |
$50,000 |
To see the Presidential spending limits for 2008, click here.
To see the Presidential spending limits for 2004, click here.
*Legal and accounting expenses incurred solely to ensure the campaign's compliance with the law are exempt from all expenditure limits.
**Spending limits are increased by the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), which the Department of Labor calculates annually using 1974 as the base year.
***VAP is the Voting Age Population, which the Department of Commerce calculates annually.
****The national committee of a political party may make special, limited expenditures, called coordinated party expenditures or 441a(d) expenditures, on behalf of its Presidential nominee, even if the nominee does not accept public funds. Coordinated party expenditures are not considered contributions and do not count against a publicly funded campaign's candidate expenditure limit.
A little more:
Contributions to Major Party Nominees in the General Election
A major party nominee who has accepted public funding for the general election may not accept any contributions to further his election. You may, however, help a publicly funded nominee by contributing to the candidate’s compliance fund. A compliance fund is a special account maintained by publicly funded nominees solely for paying legal and accounting expenses incurred in complying with the campaign finance law. You may contribute up to $2,300 to the compliance fund of a major party nominee.
In the case of a major party nominee who is not publicly funded, you may contribute up to $2,300 to his/her general election campaign.
http://www.fec.gov/pages/brochures/pubfund.shtml#anchor697350
After Aug 31, donate to the GOP Victory fund.