“It is a dumb approach,” Feingold said in a phone interview with The Huffington Post. “It will lead to scandal and there are going to be a lot of people having corrupt conversations about huge amounts of money that will one day regret that they went down the route of what is effectively a legalized Abramoff system.”

“I also think it guts the president’s message and the Democratic Party’s message,” Feingold added. “We are doing very well right now. The president is doing brilliantly. This is no time to blunt that message by starting to play this game. I think people will see it as phony that Democrats start playing by Republican rules. People will see us as weak and not being a true alternative and just being the same as the other guy. And as I have said before, to me this is dancing with the devil.”…

“I’m sure super PACS have had some role [in damaging former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s candidacy],” Feingold said of the latter point. “But the fact is that Romney’s best advantage is he has terrible opponents. It’s true. If these people were even remotely credible I don’t think all the money in the world would help. It’s that he has complete duds as opponents who people know can’t beat the president.”