The Center for Responsible Politics reports that presidential campaign spending reached the stratospheric level of $717.9 million in 2004, more than doubling the spending of the 2004 presidential election. Election spending is expected to surpass $1 billion before November.

Campaign funding and electioneering tactics were seriously scrutinized after the Watergate scandal and a number of adopted reforms aimed to restrict campaign spending, penalize abuses and drastically reduce influence from special interests. Sen. McCain has been a leading advocate for campaign spending reform.

The public campaign financing mechanism in place today, in which presidential candidates use money raised by a $3-per-taxpayer check-off on income tax returns, is theoretically designed to level the playing field for presidential candidates. In this cycle, the fund provides up to $6 million for primary campaigns and nearly $85 million for the general election period which begins after the party conventions.

Last week Republican front-runner John McCain accused Barack Obama of flip-flopping on a pledge he made to accept public financing for the fall presidential campaign rather than raise money from private sources and special interests as the party's nominee.

McCain made the pledge last March to use public financing if his opponent pledged to do the same. McCain probably assumed he would be squaring off with Senate colleague Hillary Clinton and that they would enjoy relative parity in their funding raising prospects.

Instead McCain faces funding raising juggernaut, Barack Obama, whose campaign is raking in more than $1 million a day and gaining momentum. Sen. Obama reported raising $36 million in January alone. Sen. Clinton raised $14 million last month.

Even as Obama challenges McCain on the sincerity of his public financing promise, he stands to hold a big advantage in the fall with private and special interest donations vastly exceeding $85 million. Obama was the first candidate to commit to public financing and it now appears likely that he will forego the opportunity to forge real reform by proving that public funding can sustain a candidate from outside the "system."

Now that Senator McCain's fund raising potential has risen, he is also trying to back away from the election's public financing system. He hasn't accepted public funds for the primary election and has borrowed nearly $5 million to fund his campaign thus far. Legal questions have arisen related to the security behind the loan notes and the extent and timing of his commitment to the public financing system.

Yesterday the Democratic Party filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against Sen. John McCain calling on regulators to investigate McCain's decision to withdraw from the primary portion of the public financing system.

FEC Chairman David Mason contends that McCain must explain the security for the $4 million he borrowed last fall and formerly request that the FEC approve his withdrawal from public funding support. That request must be sanctioned by a quorum of 4 of the 6 members of the Commission. The FEC can choose to investigate or simply drop the matter.

However, a quorum doesn't exist because the slate of new commissions proposed to fill the four vacancies is being held up due to partisan wrangling in the Senate. Sen. Obama is one of the Senators voting to withhold approval of the bi-partisan slate of commissioners. Any lengthy delay in the decision would seriously harm the McCain campaign. Could this be the shrewd maneuver of an ambitious, calculating politician? Time will tell.