Kerry Raises $7 Million In First Quarter
By Scott Brooks
WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kerry’s presidential campaign raised about $7 million in the first three months of this year, a figure likely to position him near the top of the Democratic fundraising heap.
Massachusetts was the leading contributor to his campaign, contributing $2.1 million.
Sen. Kerry’s $7 million puts him just behind Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, who announced on Tuesday that his campaign raised $7.4 million during the first three months of this year. None of the other seven Democratic candidates has yet released figures.
Sen. Kerry’s total is added to roughly $3 million already in the Massachusetts Democrat’s presidential campaign chest, the majority of which had been transferred from his Senate account. After spending nearly $2 million so far this year, the campaign can boast an on-hand cash total of slightly more than $8 million.
Some analysts who had viewed Sen. Kerry as the frontrunner for the Democratic nod were surprised that the senator failed to exceed Sen. Edwards last quarter.
“That’s got to be of some level of concern,” said Steven Weiss, communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics, which monitors campaign finances. “No frontrunner likes to be beat out in fundraising.”
A Kerry campaign aide said the senator and his staff were impressed with Sen. Edwards’ figures but stressed that Sen. Kerry is pleased with his own tally.
“We’ve raised more money, acquired more donors, put more in the bank and built a stronger political foundation than I thought would be possible 90 days ago,” Jim Jordan, Sen. Kerry’s campaign manager, said in a statement.
On his way to winning the 2000 Democratic presidential nod, Vice President Al Gore raised a record $8.9 million during the first quarter of 1999. George W. Bush led Republican candidates with $7.6 million, with roughly one-third of that total coming in on the last day of filing.
This year’s candidates are working under new campaign finance rules, instituted last November, that double the amount of so-called “hard” dollars that individuals can donate to a federal candidate, to $2,000.
The new laws also bar campaigns from accepting “soft money” donations, or unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations and labor unions.
The Supreme Court was expected to review the new law in the coming months, though a delay in a federal appeals court ruling on the matter has raised concern that the nation’s highest court will be unable to hear the case this term.
On March 19, Kerry qualified for the federal matching fund system, which rewards candidates with federal dollars if they raise at least $5,000 in each of 20 states in amounts no greater than $250 per donor.
Sen. Kerry has not said yet whether he will apply for matching funds, which might bring in less money than he could raise without those dollars.
During his 2002 re-election campaign, Sen. Kerry raised $14.7 million, the 10th-highest total collected during that six-year period, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The senator’s closest opponent in that race, a Libertarian, raised less than $200,000.
Other Democratic campaigns were expected to release their fundraising figures in the coming days. Conventional wisdom is that none of the others will report totals as high as Kerry and Edwards, Mr. Weiss said.
Candidates must file their first-quarter financial reports with the Federal Election Commission by April 15.
Published in The New Bedford Standard Times, in Massachusetts.
