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To: Elsewhere who wrote (16173)	11/14/2003 4:04:30 PM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 793689

Surprise, Surprise! ____________________ November 14, 2003 Following Dean, Kerry Opts Out of Public Financing for 2004 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 3:12 p.m. ET WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry has decided to opt out of the post-Watergate public financing system and is considering taking out a personal loan to help fund his struggling White House bid. Kerry becomes the second Democratic presidential candidate to abandon the system, but unlike rival Howard Dean, he plans to keep his spending to the $45 million limit the program imposes for the primaries. He will not follow its state-by-state limits. ``He changed the rules of this race and anybody with a real shot at the nomination is going to have to play by those rules,'' Kerry said during a campaign stop in Iowa. Kerry's move marks the first time in Democratic Party history that two contenders for the nomination have abandoned the system since the Watergate scandal some 30 years ago. It also is the first time the top candidates in the two major parties have decided to skip public financing. ``As you all know, this has been a difficult week in our campaign, but I've been in tougher spots than this before and I've fought back and won,'' said Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War veteran. ``That fight begins today with a decision I'm making to give up federal matching funds in this campaign.'' The Massachusetts senator fired his campaign manager on Sunday, then lost his chief spokesman and deputy finance director, who quit within days. Kerry compounded the problem on Thursday, telling The Associated Press that his campaign would be ``better off'' without them. He later called the three former aides to apologize for the remarks. Kerry's campaign initially put out a statement saying he would take out a personal loan, then issued another, deleting that line. Kerry said he had made no decision, but urged his supporters to step up their contributions. ``I don't know what I'll put in,'' the candidate said. ``I'm not going to fight with one hand behind my back.'' Kerry's decision to skip the $18.7 million in public money comes despite a slowdown in his fund raising after a promising start, and the acknowledgment by his campaign that he cannot tap wife Teresa Heinz Kerry's multimillion-dollar Heinz food fortune for the race. The Massachusetts senator has reported investments valued at about $700,000 to $2.4 million and up to $600,000 worth with his wife. Kerry advisers have said he has several million dollars of his own money he could tap for his race; if any resulted from gifts or asset transfers from his wife, Kerry would have to show he received it before starting his presidential campaign. Kerry is not the first presidential hopeful to invest substantial personal resources in his bid. Republican Steve Forbes and Reform Party choice Ross Perot each spent millions on their candidacies. In a fund-raising e-mail this week, Kerry urged supporters to contribute to help cover specific expenses, ranging from $650 to help finance a New Hampshire TV ad to $10 to provide pizza to campaign volunteers. ``By donating now, your money literally powers our field operations in Iowa and New Hampshire, the key early primary states,'' Kerry wrote. He previously sent out fund-raising letters, urging people to give to help him accumulate matching funds should he decide to take public financing. The campaign will let those donors know of his decision to opt out so they can get their money back. Kerry joins Democratic rival Dean and President Bush in abandoning the public financing system in the primaries. Dean made history Saturday when he became the first Democrat ever to decide to skip the program, which offers a taxpayer-funded match of up to $250 for each contribution, up to a total of $18.7 million. The system imposes an overall spending limit of $45 million, plus state-by-state caps. President Bush opted out in the primaries in 2000 and for 2004. Fund-raisers this week pushed his primary campaign total close to the record $106 million he raised in 2000. Democratic strategists have worried their nominee-to-be would emerge from the primaries broke if he or she accepted public financing and its spending limits as Bush, with no GOP opponent, had tens of millions left to spend next spring and summer. Kerry began this year one of the top fund-raisers in the Democratic race, and was the first to say he was considering skipping public financing. He raised $7 million from January through March, second only to North Carolina John Edwards' $7.4 million. Dean began the year near the bottom, raising only about $2.6 million in the first quarter. But like many others in the nine-member Democratic field, Kerry's fund-raising totals have fallen while Dean's have soared; in the quarter ending Sept. 30, Dean raised $14.8 million, compared to $4 million for Kerry. Dean led the field with about $25 million collected to that point, and Kerry was second with about $20 million. The race's newest candidate, Wesley Clark, announced Thursday he will accept the so-called matching funds. He has filed the paperwork needed to qualify for public financing, as have Dick Gephardt, Edwards and Joe Lieberman. nytimes.com

To: Elsewhere who wrote (16173)	11/14/2003 5:27:56 PM
From: FaultLine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793689

Hi Jochen Jansen, Hey, I threw a pebble into the pond as well :-) And who could ask for a better thread participant? You've been an articulate, true-blue contributor for a long time. From your position in Germany, you have consistently provided us with a little wider view of the world. Thanks, Jochen, for all your efforts. :o) --ken/fl