Biden to pass up public funding

02/28/2007

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Joe Biden will join several of his rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination in opting out of the public funding program for both the 2008 primaries and general election, a Biden spokeswoman tells CNN.

The Delaware lawmaker is the fourth member of the Democratic field to decide to fund his campaign solely from privately raised funds, rather than accepting up to $105 million in public money. Sen. Hillary Clinton, former Sen. John Edwards, and Sen. Barack Obama have all indicated they will opt out of the public funding program, which was part of a package of campaign finance reforms implemented in the wake of the 1970s Watergate scandal.

Obama has expressed interest in accepting public funding for the general election, totaling roughly $84 million, if the GOP nominee agrees to do the same. The Illinois senator asked the Federal Election Commission earlier this month whether he would be permitted to do so if he returned any privately raised funds. The FEC will make a ruling on the matter on Thursday, but a draft opinion released last week suggests that candidates would indeed be permitted to return privately raised general election funds in favor of public money.

No Republican presidential candidates have indicated whether they plan to accept public funding.