Today’s Wall Street Journal has an interesting piece (sub. req.) on the McCain campaign’s weak financial position and how some Republican groups plan to shore it up:

The Republican governors group and its Democratic equivalent are a different breed of 527 organization, the only ones formed by the parties themselves. Because they aren’t set up to contribute directly to presidential elections, they — like other 527 groups — aren’t subject to the McCain-Feingold caps on donations. The Democrats say that should prevent them from influencing presidential campaigns. But the Republican group intends to use indirect methods to play a major role: “We are the equalizer in this campaign,” says executive director Nick Ayers. The Republican governors’ fund-raising strategy was conceived by Mr. Ayers, a 25-year-old political prodigy. The contention of Mr. Ayers and the group’s fund-raising head, former RNC Chairman Haley Barbour, is that helping Republican gubernatorial candidates in key states with advertising and voter outreach will help put the McCain campaign over the top in those states as well. Therefore, they are telling donors, unlimited donations they can give for state races will benefit Sen. McCain. That promise, in turn, helps raise more big donations for the group. […]
To persuade skeptical donors, Mr. Ayers says he provides case studies of elections where money spent on behalf of gubernatorial candidates in the 1990s also helped elect Republican senators, and he says the same theory will work for the presidential race this year.
Mr. Ayers says he has seen a “significant” increase in contributions from individual donors since he began mentioning the side effects for Sen. McCain’s campaign. The group has doubled its take in the first six months of 2008 to $14 million, compared with the same point in the 2004 election cycle, according to figures to be announced as early as this week. That outpaces the Democratic Governors Association’s total by $3 million. […]
Questions about the legality of the governors group’s practice arise on both sides of the aisle. In 2005, the FEC banned political organizations from raising uncapped donations by saying the money would “support or oppose the election of a clearly identified federal candidate.”
The governors association tells its donors their money will only indirectly support Sen. McCain, such as getting voters to the polls to pull the lever for Republican governor candidates, which can also boost Sen. McCain’s totals — and not for messages focused directly on the presidential election.

It’s a risky strategy. The Federal Election Commission has been handing out steep fines to 527 groups for this kind of thing. On the other hand, the Supreme Court has recently tilted against the electioneering provisions of McCain-Feingold, and a group called SpeechNow.org is suing the FEC to overturn its constraints on independent groups. (I’m not sure how the governors groups’ ties to their respective parties affect how they’re covered under the law. Any Corner readers know?)

Unsurprisingly, the McCain campaign is hostile to the idea:

The McCain campaign itself takes some issue with the group’s stated strategy. “If it is in fact telling its donors their money will help elect McCain they are being inaccurate,” said spokesman Brian Rogers, noting the group cannot legally attempt to sway a federal race. But he said that because he had not yet seen evidence the group is campaigning on Sen. McCain’s behalf, “It’s not an issue.”

My take? Obama’s decision to reject public financing and spend as much as he can opens a window for McCain to drop his (wrongheaded) opposition to outside groups. McCain is facing a huge financial disadvantage. If outside groups want to help him, he needs to just get out of the way.