Sunday, August 27, 2006

Ruling may favor McGavick

As reported here, "A proposed Federal Election Commission ruling says Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike McGavick can contribute $2 million to his own cash-strapped campaign without giving Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell a commensurate fundraising boost.

"If the commission adopts the proposed opinion issued by its staff this week, McGavick's hefty self-contribution, an Aug. 11 loan, wouldn't trigger the "Millionaire's Amendment" in the federal Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002. The commission will act on the recommendation Tuesday.

"The Cantwell 2006 campaign asked for the FEC opinion for fear that McGavick, the multimillionaire former chief executive of Seattle-based Safeco Corp., would pour his own money into his campaign, which lags well behind Cantwell's in fundraising."

How ironic. When Cantwell ran against then Senator Slade Gorton, she came out and said that she would not accept any PAC money, thereby putting her on the "moral high ground" for not being beholden to "special interests", and instead would use her own money (she is a former executive with RealNetworks, and earned a tidy pile of cash from them), but now that the shoe is on the other foot, they're afraid that McGavik will use his own money to finance his campaign.

What does that say about Cantwell, and her campaign? To me, it says that she is not confident that she will retain her Senate seat, and that her campaign strategists view McGavik as a credible threat.

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