Since the Federal Election Commission was created following Watergate, every single Republican and Democratic presidential nominee has used FEC-authorized funds to run his general election campaign. Until today. The New York Times’ Adam Nagourney and Jeff Zelaney report that Barack Obama will continue with his record-setting private fundraising through November.

This is more of an Obama/John McCain campaign issue than a FEC one, but today’s announcement again spotlights the tiny federal agency. Congress and the White House are now scrambling to give the FEC the quorum necessary so McCain can get his $85 million grant for the general election. But Obama argues, not unpersuasively, that even with McCain’s public money pledge, there wlll still be private 527 "issue advocacy" money channeled toward electing McCain and smearing Obama ( 527 dollars will also surely smear McCain).

Four years after "Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth" the FEC still hasn’t done anything substantive about 527’s. Of course lacking a quorum since December, the FEC still hasn’t done anything on, um, anything. -MB

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