Thomas Ferguson Quotes

In the United States 95% of the people who win elections have the most money. That's it. So, money is a big part of elections. But that happens all the time.

And, you know, money is - the money edge is really dangerous to democracy. Because what you have right now - people have said to me that, look, you'll always be outspent, so how can you ever win?

Let's face it, the subject of campaign finance is not always scintillating. But it's incredibly important.

Anyone who has been around Washington politics long enough can't avoid this truism: Election-year money is like a rushing river that invariably finds cracks in any dam the reformers erect.

Ultimately, the question of campaign contributions will be decided by the public.

The democratic process is supposed to be one person one vote, but it turns out that money is talking louder than the votes.

All elections revolve around and are often resolved by who raises the most money. That's unfair. I'd like to see that process changed, but it seems once you win and get to Congress, that doesn't happen.

One of the biggest issues for me is campaign finance reform.

Rule of Dark Matter: SuperPAC dollars cannot be seen by most voters but account for most of the money in this universe.

Polls move money as much as money moves polls.

America has the best congress money can buy.

Large sums of money really unbalance the democratic process.

All contributions by corporations to any political committee or for any political purpose should be forbidden by law.

Money has always been in politics. And I'm not sure you'd want money to be completely out of politics.

Political books are so often written from the perspective of the politicians, not from the point of view of the people.

Hillary Clinton is totally controlled by Wall Street and all these people that gave her millions.

I think folks need to understand the whole background of Donald Trump. I find from time to time, I talk to people about the campaign and they say, gosh, I didn't know that Donald Trump gave a bunch of money to Jimmy Carter and to Hillary Clinton and to Harry Reid and to John Kerry.

Donald Trump talks about how he's not going to be controlled by the moneyed interests. Do people understand that he's not giving money to his campaign, he's loaning it because he expects to get money back from those same big donors he decries right now? He's planning on running a general election based upon raising money from those very people.

Big money tries to purchase its own agenda. Money does too much talking in Washington. Every senator, every representative, even the president awakens each morning with a number in his head that will drive the whole day. The number is the amount of money that must [be] raised that day for his reelection. If he fails, the next day's number will be even higher.

To my mind, if we do not get a handle on money in politics and the degree to which big money controls the political process in this country, nobody is going to bring about the changes that is needed in this country for the middle class and working families.

I am a passionate advocate of getting special interest money out of politics.

The realistic way to reduce the amount of money in politics is to reduce the amount of politics in money -- the importance of government in allocating wealth and opportunity.

Some of the donors are - many of them are good people and they're donating because their ideas are those embodied by the candidate and that's really what they're doing, they're promoting the ideas. But many of them are desirous of things in addition to that. So when I see [Donald] Trump not respond 'cause he can't spend the money, I'm secretly hoping it isn't gonna hurt him.

Candidates who win while spending less than their opponents still usually have to spend quite a lot. While not a surefire guarantor of victory, a large war chest -even if not the largest-is usually a necessary condition. Money may not guarantee victory, but the lack of it usually guarantees defeat. Without large sums, there is rarely much of a campaign, as poorly funded 'minor' candidates have repeatedly discovered.

The problem isn’t too little money in political campaigns, but not enough.