Neil asks if Senator McCain's decision to forego federal "matching funds" for his campaign "is this legal, or is he just making it up as he goes along."
The answer is "yes." Senator McCain (and the Republicans) have caught a lucky break. Last summer, when his campaign was broke, Senator McCain agreed to take the government subsidy. Normally, those monies would start being paid out in January, locking him into that decision. Taking the subsidy requires you to agree to limit spending. That would mean, this year, that McCain would already be very close to the spending cap, with his spending severely limited between now and the convention in late summer. With Obama raising $1 million a day, that would be a disaster.
But the campaign fund has no money in it right now, because not enough people are checking off the box on their tax returns that earmarks their $3 to the fund. So McCain has taken no payments yet. The law doesn't cover this situation. But I think the best answer is that McCain can still drop out. In 2004 the FEC ruled that Richard Gephardt could back out, although that was contingent on Gephardt backing out before the program kicks in on January 1, so the case not quite, as lawyers say, "on all fours." As a constitutional matter, participation must be voluntary, as since McCain hasn't actually received any money, he can argue that he has not yet "participated" and can't be coerced into doing so. In any case, it's pretty much inconceivable that, as a matter of prosecutorial discretion, the FEC would pursue this case as a violation, and the general penalty is to repay the funds received to the Treasury. Of course, that liability, in this case, is zero.
It's not without question, and the Dems may file a complaint, but the best read is that this is a legal move for McCain, and that he and the GOP have dodged a bullet, thanks to circumstances beyond his control. Call him "Lucky John." And call the party lucky, too!