On Meet the Press, host Brian Williams allowed Sen. Lindsey Graham to crop an answer Sen. Barack Obama gave on a Midwest Democracy Network questionnaire about whether he would commit to public financing for the general election if his opponent did so. While Graham read the question and beginning of Obama's answer aloud, neither he nor Williams noted that Obama concluded his answer by saying he would "aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election," which the Obama campaign maintains he did before determining an agreement with the McCain campaign was unreachable.

On the June 22 edition of NBC's Meet the Press, while discussing Sen. Barack Obama's decision to forgo public financing in the general election, host Brian Williams allowed Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to crop an answer Sen. Barack Obama gave to a Midwest Democracy Network questionnaire about whether he would commit to public financing for the general election if his opponent did so. Earlier in the segment, Graham suggested that Obama's questionnaire answer constituted evidence that Obama "literally signed his name, 'I'll accept public financing,' and now, for whatever reason, he has broken his word." Graham stated: "Here's the question: 'If you are nominated for president in 2008 and your major opponents agree to forego private funding in the general election campaign, will you participate in the presidential public financing system?' Obama: 'Yes, I have been a longtime advocate for public financing of campaigns combined with free television and radio time as a way to reduce the influence of moneyed special interests,' November 2007. Wasn't worth the paper written on." Williams did not point out that Graham only quoted the beginning of Obama's answer, in which he concluded: "If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election."

The Obama campaign has asserted that representatives met with McCain advisers in an unsuccessful attempt to pursue an agreement on public financing for the election.

Obama's full response to the Midwest Democracy Network's question -- "If you are nominated for President in 2008 and your major opponents agree to forgo private funding in the general election campaign, will you participate in the presidential public financing system?" -- was as follows:

Yes. I have been a long-time advocate for public financing of campaigns combined with free television and radio time as a way to reduce the influence of moneyed special interests. I introduced public financing legislation in the Illinois State Senate, and am the only 2008 candidate to have sponsored Senator Russ Feingold's (D-WI) bill to reform the presidential public financing system. In February 2007, I proposed a novel way to preserve the strength of the public financing system in the 2008 election. My plan requires both major party candidates to agree on a fundraising truce, return excess money from donors, and stay within the public financing system for the general election. My proposal followed announcements by some presidential candidates that they would forgo public financing so they could raise unlimited funds in the general election. The Federal Election Commission ruled the proposal legal, and Senator John McCain (r-AZ) has already pledged to accept this fundraising pledge. If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election.

Additionally, Williams did not challenge Graham's misleading assertion that "[t]he public financing system that we all are touting here today as great has been abandoned by one candidate, and that wasn't John McCain. It's abandoned because of political expediency." Williams did not note that McCain himself wrote a letter to the Federal Election Commission in February saying that he was "withdrawing from participation in the federal primary-election funding program." McCain had previously applied to the FEC to qualify for public matching funds during the primary campaign in August 2007 and signed a loan agreement that could have forced him to remain in the race -- even if he had no chance of winning -- in order to be eligible for public matching funds to repay the loan. In response to McCain's letter, FEC Chairman David Mason took the position that McCain cannot legally opt out of public financing for the primary without FEC approval and asked the McCain campaign to expand upon its assertion that it "had not pledged the certification of Matching Payment funds 'as security for private financing.' "

Obama, Sen. Hillary Clinton and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) did not apply to take public matching funding for their 2008 primary campaigns. Additionally, as Media Matters for America has noted, in a June 5 ABC World News interview, McCain asserted that if Obama opted not to take public funding for the general election campaign, his campaign might do the same, and added that his campaign would make its decision on whether to take public financing based on "how much money we could raise" and "how much time you spend away from actually campaigning."

From the June 22 edition of NBC's Meet the Press: