By Neil the Ethical Werewolf
I doubt that the spending caps that come with public funds will cripple Edwards in the general election, as Ezra and Markos think. We aren't talking about a congressional campaign here -- we're talking about a race for president, where free media and ads from 527 groups are going to be way more significant than anything the candidates themselves put on air.
The most significant ads of election 2004 weren't put out by a campaign, and they didn't hit a candidate who was bound by spending caps. They were the Swift Boat ads, issuing from an independent 527 group and going on air after the Democratic convention. Especially on the negative side, 527 ads are better than candidate ads, because the candidate doesn't have to take responsibility for them. If Edwards winning the nomination means that you and I get to pick the pro-Edwards (or anti-whoever) ads of spring and summer by funding our favorite 527s, that's fine with me.
A presidential candidate -- even one who can't run his own ads -- is one of the most-watched human beings on the planet. Free media opportunities are all over the place. If Edwards wants to hit back against an opposing ad, he just has to go on Larry King's show. And if there's anything that the Edwards campaign has been good at in the Trippi era, it's free media. From the Hair video to the poverty tour to the constant shower of policy proposals to the clear and powerful distinctions between himself and Hillary that caused most observers to call him the winner of the last debate, Edwards has been able to maintain the media profile of a first-tier candidate, without the first-tier money. If there's a campaign that can win the free media game, it's the one that Joe Trippi is running.
