Obama memo: Blame McCain on finance issue

CHICAGO, July 7 (UPI) -- Likely Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Barack Obama is seeking to blame his opponent for a decision to not use public campaign financing, a memo shows.

The talking points memo from campaign managers for the Illinois senator was obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times, which published it Monday. The memo advises campaign workers to point out to questioners that Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the likely Republican presidential nominee, "has been running a privately financed general election campaign since February."

Obama's decision to go back on an earlier pledge to accept public funding for his campaign "wasn't an easy one -- especially because he supports a robust system of public financing of elections," the memo says. "But Obama is asking his supporters to build the first general election campaign that's truly funded by the American people -- not the big donors and the special interests."

Public financing of campaigns is a way for candidates to lessen their reliance on special interest donors, but it also means a limit is set on how much can be spent. With McCain set to run a privately funded election with no limits, Obama had to do the same, supporters say.