Bill Clinton: “Well, first, let me say I dispute a little bit the characterization there. I can't speak for the Republicans; they'll…”

“Well, first, let me say I dispute a little bit the characterization there. I can't speak for the Republicans; they'll have to speak for themselves. But the people who were there on the day in question were not charged a fee. Some of them were our contributors--had contributed in the past--they had raised money for me in the past. Some of them had not. And so I don't think it's quite an accurate characterization. But I will say this: If you look at the money that was raised and spent not only by the parties and their respective campaign committees in the Senate and House but also by all these independent--apparently independent third-party committees and you look at the exponential cost of the campaigns related to communications, surely we can use this opportunity to make something positive come out of this. I mean, I think that all of us--as I said, again--every one of us who has participated in this system, even if we did it because we thought we had to do it to survive or to just keep up, has to take some responsibility for its excess, and I take mine. But we have got to do something about it. And the only way we can do anything about it is to pass the legislation, the McCain-Feingold bill or some acceptable variation thereof. Terry [Terence Hunt, Associated Press].”