In a June 20 USA Today article, reporter Fredreka Schouten quoted Tucker Bounds, a spokesman for Sen. John McCain, who said, “Unlike [Sen.] Barack Obama, John McCain believes in keeping his word to the American people, and he will undergo public financing for the general election.” But Schouten did not note that while the McCain campaign, through Bounds, now says McCain will not opt out of public financing because he is “keeping his word to the American people,” McCain himself previously indicated that his decision over whether to take public financing if Obama opted out would depend not on “keeping his word” but on whether it would be financially prudent to do so. In a June 5 ABC World News interview, McCain asserted that if Obama opted out, his campaign might, too, and would make its decision on whether to take public financing based on “how much money we could raise” and “how much time you spend away from actually campaigning.” Further, while Schouten quoted Bounds' criticism of Obama and reported that McCain “applied for the money for the primaries, but did not use it,” she 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 after he signed an agreement for a loan in late 2007 that, as The New York Times reported, was “secured in part by the promise of federal matching money” in the primary. If it is found that McCain cannot opt out of public financing in the primary without FEC approval, then every day that McCain spends beyond the limits of the public financing system -- which he has already exceeded -- he could be breaking federal law.

While Schouten reported Bounds' suggestion that McCain would take public financing for the general election because he “believes in keeping his word to the American people,” when asked in the June 5 interview with ABC's World News host Charles Gibson whether he would opt out from public financing if Obama did, McCain did not mention his “word to the American people.” Instead, McCain replied: “I don't know. We'd have to look and see how much money -- not only how much money we could raise, but how much time you spend away from actually campaigning. That's the problem. The benefit of taking the public financing is that then you don't have to worry about the fundraising.” Similarly, in an April 10 article, The New York Times reported that “campaign officials emphasize that no final decision has been made” on public financing for the general election, and quoted senior adviser Charlie Black's statement, “We could sit down in July or August and say, 'Hey, we're raising a lot of money and maybe we should forgo it.' ... We don't have enough data.”

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 the April 10 article, the 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 agreement, which specifically granted to the lender “as additional collateral for the loan, a first priority perfected security interest in and to all of Borrower's right, title and interest in and to the public matching fund program” 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 ABC News' transcript of Gibson's June 5 interview of McCain:

GIBSON: Public financing -

McCAIN: Yes.

GIBSON: -- are you going to take it?

McCAIN: Well, I certainly -- as you know, Senator Obama signed a piece of paper saying that he would take it if I would take it. I still want to take it. We haven't made a final decision if he doesn't take it, but I would hope that he would keep his word.

GIBSON: If he opts out, will you?

McCAIN: I don't know. We'd have to look and see how much money -- not only how much money we could raise, but how much time you spend away from actually campaigning. That's the problem. The benefit of taking the public financing is that then you don't have to worry about the fundraising.

And so, I haven't made a final decision. But, a little straight talk, we'd certainly lean towards it, but I would hope that Senator Obama would also keep his word.

From the June 20 USA Today article:

Obama on Thursday set aside an early promise to use public funds for the fall and became the first presidential nominee to bypass the system since it was created in 1976 after the Watergate scandal.

Republican John McCain will accept public funding for the fall campaign. He applied for the money for the primaries, but did not use it.

[...]

McCain, speaking to reporters from Iowa, said the fact that Obama was “not even willing to keep” a campaign promise “should be disturbing to all Americans.”

Obama and McCain both pledged last year that they would accept taxpayer money for the general election if his opponent would do the same. Obama began stepping away from that as the primaries got underway and he shattered fundraising records. In a Feb. 20 column in USA TODAY, Obama said he would keep his pledge only if McCain also agreed to limit spending by political parties and refuse fundraising help from outside groups.

“Unlike Barack Obama, John McCain believes in keeping his word to the American people, and he will undergo public financing for the general election,” spokesman Tucker Bounds said.

Obama has tapped more than 1.5 million donors and used the Internet extensively to bring in new ones. At the end of April, Obama had nearly a 3-to-1 advantage over McCain in fundraising.