"...Damn the Ketchup, ...Full speed ahead..........."!!! ( tee hee hee, ...po' li'l ol' Hairy Freakin' Kerry )
Bush, Republicans Have More Money Than Kerry, Party (Update1)
May 21 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush has $65 million financial advantage over Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, Federal Election Commission records show.
At the end of April, Bush had $71.6 million in the bank and the Republican National Committee had $64.3 million. That's $65.1 million more than the $28.4 million in Kerry's bank account and the $42.4 million that the Democratic National Committee has on hand.
That gives Bush and the Republicans millions of dollars more to spend on advertising and other efforts to woo voters going into the November election. Polls show the race is a tossup between the two candidates.
A poll for Newsweek magazine conducted May 13 and 14 among 1,010 adults showed that in a two-way race Kerry would get 46 percent support if the election were held now and Bush would get 45 percent, within the survey's 3-point margin of error. A Zogby International poll taken May 10-13 showed Kerry leading Bush 47 percent to 42. The error margin for the Zogby poll was plus or minus 3.2 percent points.
Kerry, 60, in his FEC filings, reported raising $31.3 million in April, twice as much as the $15.6 million that Bush, 57, took in. The four-term U.S. senator from Massachusetts also outspent Bush, $35.1 million to $30.7 million. Kerry spent $22.8 million on advertising, slightly more than the $20.9 million that Bush spent.
`Campaign Thriving'
``Our campaign is thriving on our supporters' energy and commitment to electing John Kerry the next president of the United States,'' campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill said. ``They're creating tremendous momentum and setting new records nearly every day.''
Combined, the two candidates have more than doubled the amount that Bush and Vice President Al Gore, the 2000 Democratic presidential nominee, raised during their entire primary campaigns, which ended with the party conventions in August of that year.
The increase comes after Congress in 2002 outlawed unlimited donations from corporations and labor unions to political parties and doubled the amount of money an individual can contribute to a candidate to $2,000 per election.
Kerry Donors in April
In April, Kerry's took in $27,500 from employees of the lawyer-lobbying firm of Hogan and Hartson, according to Political MoneyLine, an Internet site that tracks campaign finance. The firm's clients include Citgroup Inc. and eBay Inc. Kerry also raised another $20,000 from University of California employees; they are the biggest donors to his presidential campaign, contributing more than $200,000 in all, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based nonpartisan research group.
Both Kerry and Bush declined to accept federal matching funds for the primary campaign, which freed them of restrictions on raising and spending money. Bush faced no Republican opposition and Kerry defeated his eight Democratic opponents by the time of the March 16 Illinois primary.
Bush also did not accept federal funds in 2000, while Kerry and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean became the first Democratic candidates to forgo the federal money and the spending limits, one of the major overhauls of the campaign finance system following the Watergate scandals.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Jonathan D. Salant in Washington jsalant@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Glenn Hall at ghall@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: May 21, 2004 09:21 EDT
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