Dean says McCain skirts election law with campaign loan
Posted: 04:30 PM ET
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean accused Republican presidential front-runner John McCain of trying to skirt campaign finance laws Sunday by trying to opt out of public financing for his primary campaign.
Dean told reporters that McCain has already used the prospect of nearly $6 million in federal matching funds — which he now says he won't claim — as collateral for a January campaign loan and to obtain automatic ballot access in every state. Dean said he was filing a complaint with the Federal Election Commission to block McCain from quitting the public financing system, which imposes a spending cap on candidates.
"The law is very, very clear," Dean said. "He cannot be let out of the matching fund program if he has already used the promise of matching funds for loan collateral, and it's already clear from his FEC report that he has used that promise."
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http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/02/24/dean-says-mccain-skirts-election-law-with-campaign-loan/