Last year, when no one thought that Barack Obama and John McCain would be the presidential nominees of their parties, the two men agreed that they would observe federal campaign fund raising limits if they ran against each other.
But times changed.
While the Obama move ensures that he will have a lot more money than McCain for the November elections, it did not please some fellow Democrats.
"This is not a good decision," said Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) who has collaborated with McCain on a number of political reform efforts.
"While the current public financing system for the presidential primaries is broken, the system for the general election is not."
Ethics watchdog groups used one word to give their reaction, which was "disappointed."
Feingold went one step further, "this is a mistake."
Republicans meanwhile went after Obama for what they labeled a "broken promise."
"Clearly, Barack Obama is just another politician who is willing to do whatever benefits his own personal agenda," said Republican National Committee chairman Robert "Mike" Duncan.
McCain communications director Jill Hazelbaker attacked on the same lines.
"Barack Obama is now the first presidential candidate since Watergate to run a campaign entirely on private funds."
Most people have no idea how the public financing of the presidential race works, so I don't think this will have a huge impact on this race.
But, I will say, that Republicans will use it to argue that Obama often promises one thing and then does another - in other words - he does what is politically expedient and breaks his promiseS.
Obama is a fund raising machine. Now he's going to be able to raise and spend as much as he can for November. It will make it even more difficult for John McCain to compete on a level playing field.
Unless, of course, he decides not to follow the government limits either.
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