Gingrich: Elections rigged in favor of the wealthy

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Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Tuesday that the current campaign finance system catered to wealthy candidates.

“I think the elections laws ought to be reformed, but I’m going to surprise you,” he said on MSNBC’s Politics Nation. “I think they ought to be reformed by saying that any American can give any amount of after-tax personal income to the candidate as long as they report it every night on the Internet.”

“If you had that kind of system, you’d have less negative attack ads because candidates simply wouldn’t do it, you’d have more accountability, and middle-class candidates could balance off rich candidates.”

During the Republican primary race, Gingrich had complained that Mitt Romney was “carpet bombing” him with negative ads. A Super PAC supporting Romney spent $12.3 million on TV, Internet and radio ads attacking Gingrich in January alone.

“It is very hard to compete with a billionaire if they get to spend all the money they want and the middle-class candidate’s raising money in $2,500 units,” he said. “I think the current system is rigged, frankly, in favor of the wealthy.”

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