MANCHESTER, N.H. — Former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley, gearing up for a Democratic presidential primary in which he will likely be massively outspent by Hillary Rodham Clinton, said Wednesday the modern campaign finance system had reduced elected officials to “telemarketers.”

Saying he plans a decision on whether to launch a White House bid soon, O’Malley added “any member of Congress” should welcome publicly financed campaigns because the fund-raising demands prevent them from performing other work. He used a barnyard epithet to offer his opinion of the current system, which allows for unregulated money to flow to outside committees organized to support or oppose candidates.

“We’ve turned them into a bunch of telemarketers. They’re no — how can you tell me that you’re actually representing the interests of your district when you’re spending 20 hours a week on a telephone like an idiot in some little room calling people again and again and again asking for PAC checks. I mean, this is bull----.”