When one looks at the balance sheet, one looks at everything. That was your mistake...
Kerry raises record $50M in 1st quarter
By Sharon Theimer
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Internet fund raising is paying off big for John Kerry, pulling in more than half the Democratic record $50 million he has collected this year and helping him rival President Bush's first-quarter money.
The Kerry campaign said Friday it raised $26.7 million online from January through March, the most ever for a presidential campaign over the Internet in one quarter. It also set a new mark for money raised online in one day, raking in $2.6 million March 4.
"Our grass-roots donors have been the backbone of our fund raising this month, breaking every online record," Kerry campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill said of the March online effort.
Kerry's $50 million total from January through March beats the Democratic record set by former rival Howard Dean, who raised $16 million for a quarter. Kerry took in $20 million alone through two Web-a-thons that challenged donors to help raise $10 million online in each of two 10-day periods, mirroring Dean's pioneering Internet efforts.
Dean raised millions online for his presidential bid last year and quickly surpassed the previous Internet record holder, 2000 Republican hopeful John McCain. Dean is now helping Kerry's effort. The former Vermont governor said he has appealed to his online donors to give to Kerry and plans to add a Kerry page to his deanfor America.com Web site.
In all, Kerry has raised more than $75 million since he began fund raising in January 2003, with roughly $38 million of that coming in after he locked up the Democratic nomination March 2.
Kerry hopes to reach $105 million by the party's nominating convention in late July. That would put him at roughly half what many Bush fund-raisers think the Republican can take in.
Bush has raised more than $182 million, including more than $50 million in the first quarter, beating the presidential quarterly record he set last year. The campaign has not released a precise first-quarter total.
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Both campaigns plan fund-raising events this month and will also raise money through mailings and online pitches.
Kerry's next fund-raising stops are scheduled in Washington, D.C., and Chicago next week. He raised millions this week on a California trip that kicked off a six-week, 20-city fund-raising tour. His campaign plans to expand its fund-raising efforts by running newspaper ads urging people to give, starting with a full-page plea Sunday in The New York Times.
Bush plans to headline his last fund-raiser for himself on Monday in North Carolina, then focus on raising money for other Republicans. Bush backers including campaign chairman Marc Racicot, political adviser Karl Rove and Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson have fund-raisers scheduled for Bush's campaign this month.
Bush and Kerry can raise money until their parties officially nominate them in late summer. Both skipped public financing for the primaries, freeing them from a $45 million spending limit they would have faced until the party presidential conventions.
Both are expected to take full public financing for the general election. If they do, they will receive about $75 million from the government after their nominations and will be barred at that point from spending private donations to campaign. |
