Kerry’s Presidential Campaign Shapes Up with Heavy Fundraising
By Heidi Taylor
WASHINGTON—With less than 600 days until the next presidential election, the Democratic field is filling with contenders in what promises to be a crowded race for the party’s bid. And while several of the Democratic presidential hopefuls boast big names, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry has positioned himself near the top-of the fundraising race at least.
According to reports filed to the Federal Election Commission in January detailing his fundraising efforts in the 2001-02 cycle, Kerry raised nearly $3.2 million, and had over $3 million cash on hand in his presidential campaign account as of December 31, 2002. He also reported $20,000 in his political action committee, Citizen Soldier Fund.
Kerry has been aggressive in his fundraising efforts since the beginning of this year as well, wooing Iowa Democrats for the Iowa caucuses-the first in the nation-which have proven to be crucial in the presidential campaign process, and holding major fundraisers in Boston and New York recently, raising over $2 million in Boston and half that in New York.
As of the year-end FEC filing, Kerry’s closest competitor in fundraising was Rep. Richard Gephardt, MO, who reported nearly $1 million less, with $2.4 million cash on hand from his House campaign account, which he will transfer to his presidential campaign account.
In spite of Kerry’s fundraising success however, the crowd of Democratic contenders may be heard sighing in relief, as it appears unlikely that he will tap into the nearly $6 million family fortune he shares with his wife Teresa Heinz Kerry. Using that money, many strategists believe, would put Kerry at an advantage over his rivals.
His wife since 1995, Heinz Kerry inherited her late husband Sen. John Heinz’s ketchup fortune in 1991 when he died in a plane crash. But Kerry has said time and again that his wife’s money is his wife’s money, and that he is planning to run on his own initiative, as he has in the past.
Kerry has long been a proponent of legitimate fundraising that the people of the country can be involved in, arguing as a Senator for public funding of campaigns. In his four Senate runs in fact, Kerry relied very minimally on political action committee contributions, garnering most of his money-98 percent in his 2002 Senate campaign according to The Center for Responsive Politics-from individual contributors.
But choosing public financing for the primary campaign would set spending limits that campaign experts say could put Kerry at a disadvantage, in the case that other contenders don’t use the public funding.
In the primaries, contenders have the option to accept federal funds-the government matches every dollar raised from individual contributions under $250-but the candidate also must comply with a spending limit of about $45 million. If a contender chooses not to accept the matching funds in the primary, they are not subject to any limitations.
According to William Heineman, chair of the History and Government Department at Northern Essex Community College, until recently, almost all successful presidential campaigners have chosen to use public funding. However, things changed with George Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign, Heineman said, adding that because Bush turned down public spending and so was not subject to limitation, he basically blew his Republican competition away in the primaries.
“He was an incredible fundraiser,” Heineman said, adding that Bush raised over $100 million dollars, nearly five times more than anyone had ever raised before. Where a competitive election in the 1990s cost an average of $20 million, Heineman said, “Bush blew that out of the water,” adding that one way to look at it is that Bush sucked all the oxygen out of the water, basically making it a one-man race.
“I don’t know if Bush was a fluke,” Heineman said, but the new factor since Bush’s campaign is that presidential hopefuls have now seen a candidate opt out of public funds, raise huge amounts of money, and then win the election.
A few of the other Democratic presidential campaigners, including Gephardt and Sen. Joseph Lieberman, CT, have not signaled whether they will use public funding.
Published in The Newburyport Daily News, The Gloucester Daily News, and The Salem News in Massachusetts.
