IF matching funds are voluntarily donated, Paul should accept

[DrNoZone]

This is clearly not a violation of his principles if every cent comes from voluntary donations at tax time. I was under the impression that they were from taxes, but apparently that isn't the case.

The only other issue I would have is if the expenditure limits placed on a candidate who accepts the funds would hinder the campaign in any way.

But yes, I have come from the "I may not support him if he accepts matching funds" to the "he's perfectly within his principles to take them if they're voluntarily given at tax time" position.

Another interesting thought: I wonder if this is why the campaign is taking so long to announce. Maybe they're debating this very issue?

[DrNoZone]

From the FEC:

How Matching Funds Work (http://www.fec.gov/finance/2004matching/matching.shtml#how)

In addition to regular quarterly or monthly disclosure reports, presidential candidates who seek matching funds must submit information about matchable contributions to the FEC for review. During the 2004 campaign the Commission will place these files on our Internet site. The files are provided as excel and PDF files, and are stored in compressed form so they must be unzipped after downloading.

Contributions from individuals where the aggregate amount contributed by the individual is $250 or less are eligible to be matched on a dollar for dollar basis from the Presidential Election Campaign Fund. This Fund includes proceeds from the voluntary check-off of $3 per person from income tax returns of eligible taxpayers. Candidates may submit any contribution from an individual (including those where the contribution amount is more than $250) in order to receive matching funds for the first $250 of the contribution. Some contributions included in these files, therefore, will also be included as detailed entries in the regular financial disclosure reports submitted by the campaigns.

All submissions are reviewed by the Commission to be sure that supporting documentation is in order and that there are no errors in the file before federal funds are certified to be paid. As a result, some contributions may be rejected and campaigns may resubmit rejected contributions if additional supporting material is provided. This means that specific contributions may appear more than once in the files of a particular candidate, so considerable care is required when interpreting these data.

There are two types of submission, threshold and regular. The threshold submission is only used to establish the eligibility of the candidate for matching funds. (Candidates become eligible when they receive at least $5,000 in matchable contributions from individuals in each of twenty states.) All contributions appearing on threshold submissions will also appear in the first regular submission from the campaign.

Finally, note that 2 U.S.C. Section 438a(4) states that "… any information copied from such reports or statements may not be sold or used by any person for the purpose of soliciting contributions or for commercial purposes. . .".