WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has decided not to accept federal financing for his presidential election campaign.
The decision means the presumed Democratic nominee is abandoning an earlier commitment to take the money if his Republican rival, John McCain, does the same.
Obama officials say they decided to take that route because McCain is already spending privately raised funds toward the general election campaign.
Obama says he favours a strong public electoral financing system, but that McCain and the Republicans are experts at "gaming" the system through contributions from lobbyists and political action committees.
Obama's decision means he will forgo more than $84 million in federal funding that would have been available to him.
He is the first presidential candidate to turn down the money since Congress passed 1970s post-Watergate campaign finance laws.
The public finance system is paid for with the $3 contributions that taxpayers can make to the presidential fund in their tax returns.
"It's not an easy decision, and especially because I support a robust system of public financing of elections," Obama told supporters in a video message Thursday.
"But the public financing of presidential elections as it exists today is broken, and we face opponents who've become masters at gaming this broken system."
"And we've already seen that he's not going to stop the smears and attacks from his allies running so-called 527 groups, who will spend millions and millions of dollars in unlimited donations," Obama said.
Obama has shattered president campaign fundraising records, raking in more than $265 million thus far.
Obama campaign lawyer Robert Bauer said he had met with McCain lawyers to discuss terms for both campaigns operating in the public financing system.
But he said they could not agree on how to limit spending by the campaigns and outside groups heading into the late summer party conventions.
