The post-Citizens United campaign finance environment has sullied the presidential process, he said, benefiting establishment politicians who cater to financial backers. He pointed to his own experience, noting that he and his wife mortgaged their home for between $50,000 and $75,000 — an amount that made a significant difference in his first campaign in 1984.
"I'm now told the Clinton campaign intends to raise $1 billion. Now, that ought to frighten every American," he said
The role of money in elections, the 78-year-old Hart said, is a driving force behind the current "dynastic" nature of American politics.
"If you've got to have a billion dollars to run for president, how many people can do that? Only the Clintons and the Bushes and one or two others," he said.
"This country is 330 million people, and we should not be down to two families who are qualified to govern. … When you create dynastic networks, you shut a lot of people out," he added.
Hart, who finished second to Mondale in the 1984 Democratic primary, said he has no doubt Clinton will get a primary challenger. And he argued that the challenger — whether it's O'Malley or anyone else — should force Clinton to clarify her stance on key issues, something he says would be "therapy" for the party.
"The job of a challenger is to force specificity: Here is my plan, now let's see her plan," he said. Asked whether Clinton has not been adequately specific — he used the words "specific" or "specificity" 10 times in a half-hour interview — the former senator said she hasn't been "pressed."
His advice to prospective challengers to Clinton, like O'Malley? Be specific on policy, play up the generational divide and aggressively court small-money Internet donors.
Time and again, Hart spoke to the notion of 50 percent — the rough number of Democrats he says are not yet supporting Clinton for president. "If the polls say she has 50, there are 50 that she doesn't have. … Why isn't she at 95 [percent]?"
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