Now Edwards Camp Wants Public Financing -- Fancy That

Things haven't been much better for Edwards in the polls. In national polls, Edwards has trailed Sens. Hillary Clinton (D., N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D., Ill.). Even Joe Trippi, a senior adviser to the Edwards campaign, has said of late about Clinton: "She has sort of pulled away."

State polls in Iowa and New Hampshire are a bad sign, as well. Edwards is relying heavily on Iowa to catapult him to success. But Edwards has seen recent leads in Iowa dwindle, and he now trails Clinton and Obama. New Hampshire proves a problem, too. Edwards has fallen into a statistical tie with Bill Richardson and may fall out of the top tier of candidates there.

Accepting public financing can burden a campaign. Complying with the public matching system requires additional paperwork and reports to be filed with the Federal Election Commission. Furthermore, candidates have spending limits for individual states. The limit in Iowa, for example, is $1,486,433 as of 2007. These limits could prove a problem for Edwards, who's spent a fair amount in Iowa already.

I think Edwards' move to public financing is more about desperation than anything else. He's tried hard to differentiate himself from Clinton and Obama. Time and again in debates, Edwards has criticized them for not doing more in the Senate to stop the war in Iraq.