All Talk, No Real Action

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

KEEPING 'EM GUESSING

All Talk, No Real Action

In his continuing non-campaign campaign for president, New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg made his first trip to the city he purports not to want to run: Washington. In a speech at the National Press Club yesterday and a news conference afterward, Bloomberg laid out his proposals to reduce poverty, but he also did the kind of things that the declared presidential candidates are doing: lauding his own achievements and offering his views on all manner of subjects.

Bloomberg, who has stoked speculation about a 2008 run by switching his party affiliation from Republican to independent and allowing his aides to continue to tout his prospects, laid out his proposals to reduce poverty. Among them was changing the earned-income tax credit, which provides tax credits to low-income workers, by raising the ceiling by which workers can qualify for the credit from $12,000 a year to $18,000.

He also said it is important in reforming health care to realize that "there is no free lunch," called for higher mileage standards for cars, talked about the struggles of carmakers in Detroit ("You can't fight the marketplace"), and said that while he wouldn't call for a nationwide ban on smoking in public places like the one he pushed through in New York, "it would be great if America did it." He was particularly exercised about immigration, not only calling anti-immigration rhetoric in the past few months "damaging" but also saying that "the economic health of this country is based on a constant influx of immigrants."

Bloomberg seemed eager to talk, and in fact was short on only one topic, saying simply that "I'm not running for president -- I plan to finish up my job" as mayor.

-- Perry Bacon Jr.

LIMITS OF CAMPAIGN FINANCE

McCain on Public Dole?

Though campaign finance experts say it would create huge obstacles for his candidacy, Republican White House hopeful John McCain has charged ahead with his application for public financing.

The Federal Election Commission announced yesterday that McCain has become the first 2008 presidential candidate to be declared eligible to receive federal matching funds, which could amount to up to $21 million for use between next January and the end-of-summer conventions. McCain aides have said that they submitted the application to keep open the option of taking public money, but that they have not committed to anything. Taking public financing would require them to abide by strict state-by-state spending limits until a nominee is selected in exchange for which he would receive matching funds from the U.S. Treasury. They have estimated this approach could yield them about $6 million before the first primaries, certainly enough to run television ads in key states.

In recent elections, most major party candidates have decided to forgo public funding, figuring they could raise more on their own. McCain began discussing the option in July, after it had become clear that his campaign had spent at a pace it could not maintain.

Public financing has the potential to put McCain at a steep disadvantage against almost all of the other major candidates, who will be free to raise and spend as much as they can in the early-voting states.

His challenge may be greatest in Iowa, where he would be limited to spending $1.5 million. Evan Tracey, a campaign media analyst for TNS Media Intelligence, said the GOP front-runners will probably spend $7 million to $15 million each in Iowa on television ads alone. "In that situation, you really are taking a knife to a gunfight in terms of advertising," Tracey said.

-- Matthew Mosk

PUTTING SUPPORTERS ON THE SPOT

Romney Seeks TV Ads

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton asked her supporters to pick a campaign song. Former senator John Edwards asked his supporters to add to his "We the People" TV spot by uploading videos to YouTube.

And now Mitt Romney -- who leads the polls in Iowa and New Hampshire but is something of an unknown to most Americans -- is upping the ante. The former Massachusetts governor is asking supporters to create a television spot for him. Starting today, supporters can use photos, videos and audio clips provided by the Romney campaign -- as well as their own multimedia content -- to produce an official Romney TV ad.

Alex Castellanos, senior adviser to Romney and a veteran media strategist, said last night that voters "have more power than ever. So why not let them create a campaign ad?"

Romney is partnering with Yahoo to provide the multimedia editing platform. On Romney's page on the Yahoo-owned Jumpcut.com, a free video-editing site, supporters can "mash up" the available 44 video clips, 36 audio files and 372 photos. The deadline to submit an ad is Sept. 17, and the winning submission, chosen by the campaign and supporters on MittRomney.com, will be aired at the end of September.

-- Jose Antonio Vargas