question

[Clovis Sangrail]

The Wall St. Journal http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121387916534288307.html?mod=googlenews_wsj">says:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama announced Thursday that he would become the first presidential candidate to forgo public financing of his general election campaign since the system was established three decades ago.

everybody has opted for public financing during the general for the last 30 years?

[LiberalAndProud]

1. It's true.

From the League of Women Voters:

Americans for Campaign Reform ● Campaign Legal Center Common Cause ● Democracy 21 ● League of Women Voters Public Campaign Action Fund ● Public Citizen ● U.S. PIRG

All Republican and Democratic presidents elected since 1976 have used the public financing system to finance their general election races. This included Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
All of the Democratic and Republican opponents they faced in the general election also used the system to pay for their general election campaigns. In addition, almost all of the presidential primary candidates in both parties also used the public financing system to pay for their primary races during the period from 1976 to 2004.
The system, furthermore, has provided for competitive elections. Challengers have defeated incumbent presidents in three of the six presidential races run under the presidential public financing system that involved an incumbent president.
The 2008 Presidential Election
As you know, however, the presidential public financing system is now broken
and it needs to be fixed. The spending limits for presidential primaries, for example, are far too low to meet the costs of running a modern presidential primary campaign. This has resulted in primary candidates in both parties rejecting the system for their 2008 races.
The problems with the presidential funding system today are primarily the result of the failure of Congress to take action to modernize and update the system since it was enacted thirty years ago. These problems can and must be solved.

http://www.lwv.org/Content/ContentGroups/Advocacy/AdvocacyLetters/2007/Prezpublicfinancing3807.pdf

[Born_A_Truman]

2. I think they get a little over $80M...

Not much money these days for media when you have a 50 state plan. Sure, some states aren't huge but media in the top markets (NY, LA, CHI, etc) is pricey and has to cover network tv, spot tv, radio, print and direct mail. Then they have transportation costs, staffing and tons of expenses.