Here’s the relevant portion of the transcript from Fox News Sunday:
- WALLACE: … as you alluded to it — I was going to ask you about it. Obama today announced that he raised $150 million in September. By way of comparison, accepting public financing, you’re getting $84 million for the entire campaign.
He’s outspending you on advertising 4-1. In the key state of Virginia, for instance, he has three times as many field offices. Is he buying this election?
MCCAIN: Well, I think you could make that argument, but we’re not going to let him. We’re not going to let that happen.
But what I worry about is future elections, too, not only mine. I worry about — most about mine at the moment, but what’s going to happen the next time around, four years from now?
What’s going to happen, particularly if you’ve got an incumbent president, and we no longer stick to the finance — the public financing, which was a result of the Watergate scandal?
So what’s going to happen? The dam is broken. We”e now going to see huge amounts of money coming into political campaigns, and we know history tells us that always leads to scandal.
WALLACE: But, Senator, you said in the last debate, and you mentioned it again here today — you compared it to Richard Nixon’s spending in Watergate.
As best — as best I can — this is the greatest amount of spending in a presidential campaign since Nixon in Watergate. As best I can tell, he’s not doing anything illegal.
And I know the thing you’re talking about, which is $200 contributions he’s not listing on his website. He doesn’t have to.
MCCAIN: No, he doesn’t have to. But here’s a campaign that pledged full disclosure, change of direction and all of those things, and technology allows us — we don’t have any trouble reporting every penny.
WALLACE: But are you suggesting that there’s…
MCCAIN: But I’m not suggesting…
WALLACE: … anything illegal or improper?
MCCAIN: No, no. I’m saying that history shows us where unlimited amounts of money are in political campaigns, it leads to scandal.
I’m not comparing it with — I’m saying this is the first since the Watergate scandal that any candidate for president of the United States, a major party candidate, has broken the pledge to take public financing.
We enacted those reforms because of that scandal. We know that we let unlimited amounts of money — in this case $200 million unreported — and there’s already been stories of people who have made small contributions multiple times and all that.
I’m saying it’s laying a predicate for the future that can be very dangerous. History has shown that.
WALLACE: You’re behind in the polls. You agree.
MCCAIN: Sure.
I will have more to say about the Obama fundraising numbers soon.