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WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 — If Howard Dean joins President Bush in declining taxpayer money in the presidential primaries, the move could upend a system that most candidates have used to finance campaigns for almost 30 years, critics and supporters of the program say.
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Should the Democratic candidates opt not to use the public money, next year's presidential election would be the first since the program's debut in 1976 in which candidates from both parties abandoned public financing in the primaries.
It's okay if Republicans do it, but once Democrats do it we're gonna scold them.
For the record, and for our somewhat clueless media, there's nothing inconsistent about being for public financing while refusing to voluntarily put yourself into a straitjacket.