Dale Bumpers: “No, I won't yield, Senator. I have been waiting all afternoon to speak. When I ran for Governor the first time, I found…”

“No, I won't yield, Senator. I have been waiting all afternoon to speak. When I ran for Governor the first time, I found asking for money the most difficult thing I had ever done. I could not believe that I had to go around pleading with people to give me a few dollars. Nobody wanted to give me any money anyway because I had 1 percent name recognition when I started running. Some guy gave me a $100 one day, and he said, ``I bet the horses all my life, but I have never bet on such a long shot as yours.'' But he gave me $100 anyway. I asked Tom Eagleton, the fine Senator from Missouri, when he announced he was going to leave the Senate, ``Tom, why are you leaving?'' He gave me three reasons. First of all, he said, ``I'm tired of laughing at things that ain't funny.'' The second was, ``I'm tired of answering hate mail.'' And third, ``I'm tired of going around with my tin cup out''--three very compelling, perfectly legitimate reasons for wanting to leave the Senate. As good as McCain-Feingold is, it does not remove the problem Senators face of voting on issues in which an awful lot of people who have given them money have a dynamite interest.”