Some questions for Bush

July 3, 1999

Money is a campaign asset -- "the mother's milk of politics," according to the old saying -- until it becomes an issue.

Rarely, but occasionally, big money costs candidates votes; several of the examples are recent.

Now comes George W. Bush with a record fund-raising performance -- $36.3 million so far this year -- that has startled his opponents. Bush partisans say he is likely to forgo the federal matching funds with their voluntary spending limits for each state and use his money to bury his opponents.

The campaign finance system was one of the central Watergate-era reforms, and it has worked well in the nominating campaigns (and in the general elections until being overwhelmed by soft money in the last two elections). Before spurning this system, which was designed to give voters a fair choice, Bush should at least answer a few questions:

Is he trying to buy the election? Why should voters think otherwise?

What is wrong with a process that sets a generous but not limitless budget for each of the major candidates in the battleground states -- more than $660,000 in New Hampshire next year -- so the outcome is determined by voters' confidence in the candidate and the strength of his message rather than the depth of his pockets?

Bush's donor list, like those of other candidates, already includes hundreds of people with a financial stake in federal policy decisions. What are they buying? Will their contributions secure invitations to the White House? Audiences with the president and his top decision makers? Action? How can average citizens believe their interests will be valued as much as those of the givers whose checks went to the candidate?

What is Bush's own idea -- beyond instant disclosure -- for a sensible campaign finance system?

Two other wealthy Texans, John Connally in 1980 and Phil Gramm in 1996, ran big-bucks presidential campaigns that collapsed within yards of the starting gate. Steve Forbes spent far beyond the New Hampshire limit last time and finished a poor fourth. Bush might think twice before flouting the system.