Jose Vargas rightly got a lot of attention last week for the stunning numbers he was given by the Obama internet team about their online success. As he reported: "3 million donors made a total of 6.5 million donations online adding up to more than $500 million. Of those 6.5 million donations, 6 million were in increments of $100 or less. The average online donation was $80, and the average Obama donor gave more than once."

This looks and sounds like a revolution in how presidential campaigns can be financed, but now comes a valuable reality check, from the Campaign Finance Institute, run by veteran campaign analyst Michael Malbin. It turns out Obama was more dependent on big donors than Vargas's data seems to suggest. A lot more.

Just over a week ago came the remarkable news that the McCain campaign had raised some $7 million almost immediately after the announcement of Sarah Palin as his running mate, and some $4.5 million of it reportedly poured in online. Palin continues to be a big fundraising draw, including sending out emails with cash asks in the wee hours after her convention speech. If you're not a campaign finance geek, you might think that John McCain's opting into the public financing system for the general election actually limits his campaign to the $84 million provided by the public and otherwise ties his hands when it comes to aggressive online fundraising, through both his email list and his official website at JohnMcCain.com that's paid for by "McCain-Palin 2008." But as it turns out, you'd be wrong. Nothing having to do with money in politics is that simple. (Barack Obama, of course, opted out of public funding altogether back in late June.) McCain's online fundraising operation is a lesson in the complex and, frankly, downright convoluted way American politics is paid for today.

Need proof? Just visit the contribution page on JohnMcCain.com.

Here's the clip of Andrew Rasiej interviewing Elizabeth Edwards at home via Skype video Monday at PdF2008, when John Edwards happens to drop in. They discuss the impact of the Internet on politics 2008. Edwards says it's the only reason Barack Obama isn't taking public financing," noting that it's given him a huge fundraising advantage "over Bush"--a slip quickly corrected by Elizabeth, who you can hear chortling in the background. Andrew tells John that the "internet community really loves your wife," to which he responds, "I know, so do I!" And then Elizabeth comes back on to say goodbye, noting, "PdF is enormously important in building this community--thinking about how we can use it [the net] is enormously important."

Barack Obama announces his decision to opt out of public financing in a video sent straight to supporters; McCain launches his first Facebook app: a video tour through the "Straight Talk Express" bus; a new Google maps gallery mashes up political data and geography; Capitol Words offers a daily extraction of Congress's most popular word; and more.

This morning, the Obama campaign sent out an email to its supporters urging them to watch an "important announcement" that "he wanted you to hear first." The news? As expected by many observers, Obama has decided to opt out of the presidential public financing system for the general election. Instead of taking approximately $85 million in public funds and agreeing to stop raising money and abide by that spending limit, he has chosen to rely on his gigantic donor base, which currently numbers 1.5 million individuals. The question going forward is, can he really finance his fall campaign in such a way that it is based on a new form of public, i.e. small donor-based, funding?

The YearlyKos Presidential Candidates forum has just ended and I want to get a quick post up as I wait for the Obama breakout to begin. Topline impressions: While the crowd was clearly most friendly to Edwards (no surprise given the baseline polling that DailyKos does of its readers), Obama gained the most. And we'll all win if the next inhabitant of the White House hires an official blogger...