Carter: I Couldn't Afford to Be Prez Now

Jimmy Carter said he wouldn't be able to run for president today because it costs too much. “I couldn’t possibly do it, because I have very little money,” Carter told a press conference in Pennsylvania. “And now it takes $200 million if you want any chance to get the Democratic or Republican nomination.” He was elected in 1976 when funding of elections was far more limited. The 90-year-old ex-president said he raised no money for his runs against Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan thanks to public financing of campaigns, which continued until Obama didn't accept public funds in 2008 because he could raise more. "We didn’t raise any money. So we weren’t obligated to any special interest groups, and now, of course, very wealthy people are giving unlimited amounts of money, almost, because of the Supreme Court ruling on Citizens United,” he said.