[hodgesrm]

Can you cite a source for that? This anecdotal but my impression has been that self-funded candidates do not do especially well in elections. Mike Huffington's run against Diane Feinstein was a failure [0] despite committing an enormous about of his money to the campaign. Also, the Koch Brothers' direct spending on elections has similarly not been especially effective according to some accounts. [1]

There are ample reasons to be concerned about the effect of money on the American political system. Personally I am more focused on regulatory capture through lobbying than elections per se. In the current system it looks to me as if billionaires win regardless of who's in office.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Huffington [1] https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2016/05/the-koch-brother...