WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. John McCain on Thursday accused Sen. Barack Obama of breaking a promise when the Democrat decided to forgo public financing in this fall's campaign. Sen. Barack Obama repeatedly broke campaign fundraising records during the Democratic primary season. Obama told supporters in an e-mail message Thursday that he would not accept about $85 million in public funds when he becomes the Democratic presidential nominee. In the e-mail, Obama said the public campaign financing system allowed "special interests [to] drown out the voices of the American people" and asked his supporters to "declare our independence from a broken system."
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Sen. John McCain says decision "should be disturbing to all Americans"
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Analyst says voters favor the way Obama has raised campaign cash
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Sen. Barack Obama calls public finance system "broken"
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Move will allow Obama to spend unlimited amount of money
During that time period, @placeholder has raised less than half that amount, roughly $100 million.