Press release: “The Federal Election Commission (FEC/the Commission) met in open session on Thursday, March 1, 2007 and unanimously approved an Advisory Opinion permitting Senator Barack Obama to solicit and receive contributions designated for the 2008 presidential general election while retaining the option of refunding those contributions and accepting public funding should he become the Democratic Party’s nominee. The Commission approved the process described by the campaign’s request in which: Contributions designated for the general election will be kept in a separate account; Only the campaign treasurer and chief operating officer will have access to this account; and The funds in this account will not be used for any purpose.”