Predicting McCain will attack Obama over public financing, CNN's Crowley did not report that McCain may be breaking the law

Referring to Sen. Barack Obama's decision to opt out of public financing for the general election, CNN senior political correspondent Candy Crowley asserted on the June 19 edition of CNN's American Morning that "you can expect that [Sen. John McCain] will hit Obama on two scores: One, you went back on what you said you would do; and two, this is not how to reform Washington." But while Crowley stated that McCain can be expected to accuse Obama of acting in a manner inconsistent with "reform[ing] Washington," she did not report that McCain may actually be violating campaign finance law. Specifically, Crowley did not report that Federal Election Commission chairman David Mason has taken the position that McCain cannot legally opt out of public financing during the primary season without FEC approval, meaning that every day that McCain spends beyond the limits of the public financing system -- which he has already exceeded -- he could be breaking federal law.

In a February 21 article, the Associated Press reported: "The government's top campaign finance regulator says John McCain can't drop out of the primary election's public financing system until he answers questions about a loan he obtained to kickstart his once faltering presidential campaign. Federal Election Commission Chairman David Mason, in a letter to McCain this week, said the all-but-certain Republican nominee needs to assure the commission that he did not use the promise of public money to help secure a $4 million line of credit he obtained in November." Further, in a March 23 post on The Washington Post's The Trail blog, staff writer Matthew Mosk reported that "McCain has officially broken the limits imposed by the presidential public financing system," and in a February 22 article, the Post noted that "[k]nowingly violating the spending limit is a criminal offense that could put McCain at risk of stiff fines and up to five years in prison." Under the Presidential Primary Matching Payment Account Act, violators could face fines up to $25,000 and up to five years of jail time.

In an April 10 article, The New York Times reported that Obama chief strategist David Axelrod drew attention to McCain's actions: "Alluding to a $4 million line of credit that Mr. McCain obtained late last year, secured in part by the promise of federal matching money for the primaries, Mr. Axelrod said the rest of the primary season 'should give Senator McCain time to figure out whether he was in or out of the campaign finance system in the primary, which is still an open question.' " The loan could have required McCain to remain in the race, regardless of whether his candidacy was viable, in order to receive matching funds to pay back the loan.

From the June 19 edition of CNN's American Morning:

JOHN ROBERTS (anchor): And other breaking news this morning that we told you about just a second ago, Senator Barack Obama has decided to opt out of public financing for his general election campaign. This is an about-face from earlier this year when he said during the primary season that he would most likely do it. Let's bring in our senior political correspondent, Candy Crowley. She is in Washington. Leave him open to attacks from the McCain side, Candy?

CROWLEY: Well, absolutely. And, in fact, John McCain had already begun to attack Obama on this issue several weeks ago, saying, when Obama began to kind of drop hints that maybe he wouldn't take public financing, his argument is, "Listen, our campaign was fueled by all of these small donations and that really is the best kind of campaign finance reform." He also happened to raise over $250 million just for the primary season. So, nonetheless, the argument from the Obama campaign, and in this video, which he sent to his supporters, he said so, you know -- this election is in your hands as it's never been done before. But this is a huge disadvantage for John McCain who has not raised anything like the kind of money that Obama has. And you can expect that he will hit Obama on two scores: One, you went back on what you said you would do; and two, this is not how to reform Washington.

ROBERTS: All right. Candy Crowley for us this morning with that breaking news and, of course, we'll keep following this all day. Candy, thanks.