Bill Clinton: “No. No, because if I did that, they would do what they're doing now. They would laugh. They would be happy. They would…”

“No. No, because if I did that, they would do what they're doing now. They would laugh. They would be happy. They would go into the next election, they would outspend our people even more. In the last 10 days of the last election cycle, in the 20 closest races, almost all of which were lost by Democrats, they were outspent 4-, 5-, 6-to-1-- in the last 10 days, even under the present system. And you know, I thought about that a lot. It would be easy for me to do, too, because I don't have to run again. And then I could get some of you to say nice things about what I did. It's not up to me. I don't have to run again. I could easily do that. But I'd like to remind you that there are other issues at stake here. There are other issues at stake here. In 1995, I fought a battle to keep the guarantee of medical care and nutrition--basic nutrition--to children who are poor from being taken away from them. And I could not have won in that battle if I didn't have enough allies in the Congress to sustain my veto. In 1993, because of the composition of the Congress, we passed a budget bill that reduced the deficit by 85 percent before the balanced budget bill had passed. I could not have done that if there hadn't been those people in the Congress to do that. So, I am committed to this campaign finance reform. But there are other issues, and we have to have allies. People give money in these elections based on what they honestly believe should be done. I don't question the sincerity of those who financed Mr. Gingrich and the Republican revolution. But I disagreed with it. And we had an argument. And we have to have enough capacity to stake out our position, and if we don't have--we have to fight for the things we believe are important, just as they fight for the things they believe are important. It's a simple thing. The cost of communications have overwhelmed the capacity of the system as it was intended to operate. The FEC created this soft money loophole. It has become the way of getting access to virtually unlimited communications. We have to close the loophole. And we have to close it for all on a fair basis. For me, I could give it up easily, but I don't think it would be right for me to put the people that agree with me about what's best for America at an even greater disadvantage than they're going to be. And it doesn't affect me personally, but that's been my position.”