from NYT, via Free Republic…

WASHINGTON, July 28 — Two summers ago, on a Congressional trip to Estonia, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton astonished her traveling companions by suggesting that the group do what one does in the Baltics: hold a vodka-drinking contest.

Delighted, the leader of the delegation, Senator John McCain, quickly agreed. The after-dinner drinks went so well — memories are a bit hazy on who drank how much — that Mr. McCain, an Arizona Republican, later told people how unexpectedly engaging he found Mrs. Clinton to be. “One of the guys” was the way he described Mrs. Clinton, a New York Democrat, to some Republican colleagues.

Mrs. Clinton and Mr. McCain went on to develop an amiable if professionally calculated relationship. They took more official trips together, including to Iraq. They worked together on the Senate Armed Services Committee and on the issue of global warming. They made a joint appearance last year on “Meet the Press,” interacting so congenially that the moderator, Tim Russert, joked about their forming a “fusion ticket.”

Politics being what it is, there is more friction than fusion. As the 2008 presidential campaign begins to take shape, with Mr. McCain and Mrs. Clinton at the top of the polls for their parties’ nominations, they are increasingly underscoring their differences on issues like the war in Iraq and port security. Advisers to Mr. McCain have put a stop to his inviting Mrs. Clinton on trips.

Whether their friendship is based on anything other than the respect of one political professional for another, or the opportunity to strike a tone of bipartisanship for public consumption, is unclear. But the interplay between the two senators, both well known and both with compelling personal narratives and a knack for infuriating their own parties’ bases, could determine the tone of the 2008 presidential race and make it less personally vicious than the last two campaigns.

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The author and chief proponent of much of the tangled web of campaign finance rules and regulations, has decided that he can continue write the rules as they apply to his campaign while on the fly.

Last summer, McCain asked to participate in the public financing system when his campaign hit the skids after the immigration amnesty debacle. After his request was approved by the FEC, he was scheduled to receive some $5.8 million. The money, however, would not come without strings attached. The restraints on fundraising as well as the state-specific spending limits imposed by the law, would mean that McCain has been in, or is close to, violation of the law since Super Tuesday.

According to campaign finance lawyer Marc Elias, “At this point, (McCain) is in the matching fund system. Right now, there is no mechanism for the commission to turn off the spigot.”

Team McCain has decided to make an aggressive move, “ignore the limits and hope that when the FEC is eventually reconstituted, it will ‘exercise its prosecutorial discretion and dismiss any complaint’ over a plain violation of the law” source. “I will make no further requests for matching-fund payment certification and will not accept any matching-fund payments including the initial amount and other amounts certified by the commission in connections with my campaign’s previous submissions,” said McCain in a letter to the FEC last week.

It may indeed prove to be a successful maneuver. It is interesting that in addition to supporting Global Warmists, McCain’s behavior reveals yet another commonality with Albert Gore. When confronted with a clear violation of campaign finance laws, he seems to be claiming, “There is no controlling legal authority that says this was in violation of law.”

See Also: McCain Walk vs McCain Talk

Here is a great explanation of Defending the Right to Keep and Bear Arms from Mike Huckabee.

Here is how “The Maverick” John McCain Defends the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

See the difference?

Now, Go Forth, and VOTE!!!

There won’t be too many conservatives who will sympathize with John McCain’s money-problem-turned-ethical-dilemma.

As the author and proponent of much of the tangled web of campaign finance rules and regulations, to see the Arizona Senator reaching the spending limits imposed by his agreement to accept public financing for his primary campaign is sweet irony for some, and case of mccainenfreude for others.

“At this point, (McCain) is in the matching fund system. Right now, there is no mechanism for the commission to turn off the spigot,” said Marc Elias, a campaign finance lawyer who represented the aborted presidential campaign of Democrat Chris Dodd.

On the other hand, Paul Ryan of the Campaign Legal Center (whose founder, Trevor Potter, happens to be the McCain campaign’s lawyer) argues that as long as McCain sends the FEC a letter opting out of the public funds, he can ignore the limits. source

Ryan’s argument is essentially a replay of Al Gore’s “No controlling legal authority” kerfluffle. But, Elias argues that opting out would be a clear violation of the law. The situation guarantees continued employment for scores of legal talking heads who will be sure to dominate cable news if McCain decides to push the envelope.

And, the final irony, McCain’s only other viable option for private financing would be to embrace the 527 model, whose very existence has been a bain to McCain’s crusade to craft legislation in the campaign finance arena. Otherwise, his campaign would be caught in the same “dark period” that doomed Bob Dole in 1996: unable to respond to the well-financed attacks of the Democrats.

Read more at Politico, and Cato.