Kerry Lends Campaign $850,000 and Plans More
By GLEN JUSTICE
ASHINGTON, Dec. 18 — Senator John Kerry lent his presidential campaign $850,000 and is borrowing against his home in Boston to obtain more as national polls show him lagging far behind Howard Dean and other rivals in the race for the Democratic nomination.
The campaign, which announced the move on Thursday, said it showed determination to carry on.
"This is a clear statement by John Kerry," said Mary Beth Cahill, Mr. Kerry's campaign manager. "He is in the race to win the nomination and defeat George Bush."
Mr. Kerry opted out of taxpayer financing this year, joining Dr. Dean and President Bush. The move leaves him free to ignore the $45 million spending limit in the primaries and break the spending caps in early voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire.
Campaign finance experts say that the injection of his personal money can make a difference in the small states that vote early and that a strong showing there could jump-start fund-raising.
"If he wins there, he figures he doesn't have a money problem," said Trevor Potter, a former Republican chairman of the Federal Election Commission who is president of the Campaign Legal Center. "If he loses, it's all over anyway."
Mr. Kerry, of Massachusetts, has agreed to abide by the $45 million limit but has made no such promise regarding state-by-state limits.
His fund-raising has dwindled in recent months. He raised $20 million overall through September, second only to Dr. Dean's $25 million, but the amount he has brought in shrunk in each quarter. It fell to $4 million in the third quarter when, for the first time this year, he spent more than he took in, said PoliticalMoneyLine, which tracks campaign finance.
Mr. Kerry is the first presidential candidate to put large amounts of his own money toward next year's race. As such, he can access only assets he owns or holds jointly with his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, whose fortune is estimated at $500 million. She cannot legally contribute more than $2,000. But Ms. Heinz Kerry can make independent expenditures on his behalf as long as she does not coordinate with him or the campaign.
The campaign said Mr. Kerry borrowed the $850,000 from "personal credit." It did not say how big a loan would be secured by the house in the Beacon Hill section of Boston, saying it was still in the works.
The house is valued at perhaps $10 million, though it is not clear how much Mr. Kerry owns because the house is held in a trust, property records show. Mr. Kerry has borrowed against it in the past.
Though public financing provides a maximum of about $19 million to candidates who participate, it is not clear how much Mr. Kerry would have obtained had he stayed in the system because the money is allocated as a match based on fund-raising. One estimate by the Center for Responsive Politics said Mr. Kerry was eligible for about $5.6 million. Had he taken public financing, Mr. Kerry would have been limited to spending $50,000 of his own money. |
