Clark Expects to Finish Year With $9.5 Million
Friday, November 07, 2003
WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential hopeful Wesley Clark (search) is confident he can finish the year with about $9.5 million raised despite his campaign's late start, his campaign said Friday.
Clark expects to take in about $6 million from October through December, on top of about $3.5 million raised in the first two weeks of his campaign in September, spokeswoman Kym Spell said.
Clark is holding two or three fund-raisers a day and "literally cannot hold as many fund-raisers as people want us to hold," Spell said. Clark's entry into the race came after months of urging by supporters, and months of campaigning and fund raising by his rivals.
The Clark campaign's optimism about its funding prospects comes as rival Howard Dean (search), who began his campaign last year, leans toward opting out of the Watergate-era public financing system and its spending limits.
Dean, former Vermont governor, raised a Democratic record of nearly $15 million in the last quarter, lifting him to the front in the Democratic money chase with about $25 million as the current fund-raising quarter began last month.
Clark and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry (search) also are considering skipping public financing. Kerry was second to Dean in money with about $20 million raised through September.
Others in the nine-member Democratic field have said they plan to take the public money. Those eligible can get up to $18.7 million in government funding but are limited to $45 million in spending through the primaries.
Clark is skipping the first big test in the 2004 race, Iowa's precinct caucuses Jan. 19, to focus on the New Hampshire and later contests. |
