Hypothetically speaking, if Barack Obama were to have participated in the public finance system, here's how much money he would have been allocated over the last two months of the campaign: $75.5 million. John McCain, meanwhile, would have been allocated $84.2 million -- $8.7 million more than Barack Obama.
The reason? A peculiar quirk in federal election law declaring that the general election begins at a different time for each candidate -- after the Democratic convention for Obama, and after the Republican convention for McCain. Although both candidates would receive the same total sum, allocated on a daily basis, McCain would actually receive 11% more money than Obama.
This problem was even more acute in 2004, when John Kerry had just under $48 million to spend over the last 2 months of the campaign, compared with $75 million for Bush -- whopping $27 million, 57% edge.
Just another item for the list of things things lawmakers must resolve when they finally get around to fixing the presidential election financing system (if they ever do).
© Jed Lewison