WASHINGTON - The long-running feud between Republican presidential front-runner John McCain and the Federal Election Commission got longer just as his presidential bid takes off.
 
The agency, which the Arizona senator has not been shy about publicly criticizing, says the White House hopeful may not be able to simply withdraw from the public financing system as he believed he had two weeks ago.
 
The reason? FEC Chairman David Mason said in a letter that the agency wants to know if McCain used the possibility he would receive public financing for his campaign as collateral for an additional $1 million loan he received from a Bethesda bank in December.
 
The loan helped McCain keep his campaign afloat before he caught fire in New Hampshire and began his march to the brink of clinching the Republican nomination.
 
Theoretically, the issue could be a big one for McCain because the public funds come with spending limits that would severely hinder his campaign until he accepts the nomination at the party’s convention in early September.
 
Making the issue even more difficult to resolve is the FEC’s lack of a quorum since the beginning of the year as the Senate has been unable to approve four pending nominations to the panel.
 
But McCain’s campaign said he did not use a promise of public funds as collateral, does not plan to participate in the voluntary system and does not need FEC approval to withdraw.
 
And without a quorum, FEC appears to have few options for further action with McCain.  

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- Photo credit: Reuters/John Sommers II (McCain at a campaign stop in Ohio)