in the fall of 2007, mccain opted into the public financing system for the gop primaries, which meant he'd later receive just over $5 million in public funds in exchange for agreeing to a fundraising limit of around $54 million for the entire primary process, which ends when he accepts the nomination at the republican national convention in september.
by late november, his campaign was practically broke, so mccain took out a pair of $1 million loans, using the public funds he would receive as collateral.
cut to super tuesday, when mccain had the republican nomination all but wrapped up. suddenly, he didn't want to be bound by that $54 million limit, so his campaign did a 180 and opted back out of the public financing system.
but as david mason, the republican-appointed chair of the fec, has pointed out, you can't just unilaterally opt out -- especially after securing a loan based on having opted in. the response of the mccain campaign is quite simply to ignore mason. and because the fec currently lacks a quorum (thanks to stalling tactics by that human roadblock to reform, mitch mcconnell) that's where things stand, pending a ruling on a lawsuit filed by the dnc.
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