Bill Bennett: “I spoke at some length yesterday in a philosophical fashion, going back to the Founding Fathers and the Federalist…”

“I spoke at some length yesterday in a philosophical fashion, going back to the Founding Fathers and the Federalist Papers, hoping to turn the debate into that kind of an analysis of our basic freedoms and our political approach. Today I want to get very down and dirty, as they say; very practical. It has been my observation throughout this entire controversy, and it goes back to the last Congress as well as this one, that the efforts at campaign finance reform really constitute an incumbent protection activity. The Senator from Arizona, my friend, Senator McCain, said that if the challengers were voting here they would all vote for this bill because he showed the chart that showed most of the PAC money went to incumbents. I have been a challenger. The memory is still fresh in my mind, even though I am now an incumbent. And I can assure all who do not know anything about the political process, that an incumbent comes into a race with incredible advantages. Let me give an example. I did not run against an incumbent Senator but I ran against an incumbent Congressman. These are the advantages he brought to the race. He had a staff, paid for by the taxpayers, that was available to research every issue, provide him with a paper on every issue, and in the course of press releases give him the press support that he required. He held a press conference late in the campaign in which he attacked me for a wide variety of things.…”