Edwards to Accept Public Financing

"When is she going to commit to the public financing that she's been talking about?" Trippi asked. "I mean, was that just happy talk on the Sunday shows?"

The spending limitations are so severe that only one other candidate -- Sen. John McCain of Arizona -- has even discussed taking matching funds. McCain announced that he would strongly consider accepting public financing after a second-quarter fundraising letdown.

"The spending limits are just too low. It's fatal. It's not doable. On either side," said Steve Elmendorf, a veteran Democratic consultant who supports Clinton, earlier this year in reference to McCain's decision to consider taking public money.

Even if Edwards were able to win the early primary states to become the presumptive Democratic nominee, he would suffer repercussions later from taking matching funds. The matching system would prohibit him from raising and spending money for the general election until the Democratic convention actually takes place; the Democratic Party would be able to raise and spend money but could not coordinate its efforts with the nominee.

That scenario played out in 1996, when Republican Robert J. Dole emerged from the early primaries depleted on funds and faced a well-financed incumbent in Bill Clinton.

"It's not hard to have the party support your national campaign," said one Republican strategist who worked on the Dole campaign. "But the perception is that you are weak, don't have the resources to compete and look like a loser. And that perceptions follows your campaign around like a big, dark cloud."

Staff researcher Madonna Lebling contributed to this report.