[T]he death of public financing cannot be pinned solely, or even mostly, on President Obama. It was a long time coming. In fact, I'd wager that some of the other '08 Republican contenders would have refused public financing if they had won the GOP nomination. Ultimately, the big trouble with public financing is that it is not keeping up with the realities of electoral politics.
He goes on to explain how the public financing system provides candidates with much less money than they could raise on their own, and it delivers it too late.
