Candidates dare not be outspent. Their quest for campaign cash has stretched the old system of campaign financing beyond recognition. Give me liberty or give me death, but give me dollars first. As the politician with the highest profile, the president has become the lightning rod for the public's anxiety that fund-raising is now out of control. Every day we read a different revelation that adds to the spreading stain of Democratic money.
Republicans are no better.
No wonder the GOP senators want to restrict the Senate panel's fund-raising investigation so that it won't include Congress. The obvious potential for corruption is one thing. But the public also resents politicians spending too much time raising money and too little governing. The people sense a moral bankruptcy in Washington. The boundaries established after Watergate have collapsed as politicians bent on winning have circumvented or broken the rules.