McCain Warns on Campaign Money: 'There Will be a Scandal'

Updated: January 29, 2012 | 10:44 a.m.
January 29, 2012 | 10:34 a.m.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., flayed the Supreme Court Sunday for their 2010 decision that opened the door for corporations to give unlimited amounts of money to third-party political action committees, known as super PACs.

McCain, who has worked for decades to regulate campaign money, criticized the Citizens United decision, calling it an “outrage” and warning that the influx of cash will lead to problems.

“I guarantee there will be a scandal, there is too much money washing around politics, and it’s making the campaigns irrelevant,” McCain, who has endorsed Mitt Romney, said on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday.

Super PACs supporting both Romney and Newt Gingrich have collected millions of dollars and used that money, in part, to flood the airwaves with attack ads in the early primary states. One super PAC that supports Gingrich, the Winning the Future PAC, received roughly $10 million from one deep-pocketed billionaire.

McCain also said that it was time for the candidates to stop debating, suggesting that the 19 debates thus far in the race have, “turned into mud wrestling instead of expositions of the candidates’ views.”

“It’s time to realize who the real adversary is,” McCain said, “and it’s not each other.”

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