Money—you needed a little bit, but it wasn’t important

[Michael30000]

Hello everyone,

From the book Thank You for Being Late by Thomas Friedman.

Mr. Friedman quotes Walter Mondale.

I have seen big money in these campaigns and nobody knows where it is coming from. Does the [Supreme] Court have any idea what that Citizens United case has done to the public life of this nation? Money—you needed a little bit, but it wasn’t important. Now it is everything.

Does the bolded part imply: In the past you needed just a little bit of money (for your election campaign) and now you need a lot of money?

Thank you.

 

[Uncle Jack]

Does the bolded part imply: In the past you needed just a little bit of money (for your election campaign) and now you need a lot of money?

That is more or less how I read it, but with perhaps a different emphasis. It used to be that money (itself) had little effect on whether or not you would be elected. You needed some money to be able to run a campaign, but your chance of success did not depend on how much money you had. Now you need a lot of money, and your likelihood of success depends on how much money you can spend.

 

[Michael30000]

Thank you, Uncle Jack.