Ex-Vermont governor drew $15 million in third quarter

Wednesday, October 01, 2003

By Maeve Reston, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. -- With a surge of Internet donations yesterday in the final hours of the year's third quarter, Democratic presidential hopeful Howard B. Dean raised more than three times as much as his major Democratic rivals, but only a third as much as President Bush, who is unopposed in the 2004 election.

Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean, right, speaks during a fund-raiser breakfast yesterday in Riverside, Calif. Dean is close to collecting $15 million in the third quarter, a record. (Silvia Flores/The Press-Enterprise via AP)

The former Vermont governor was well on his way late last night to amassing $15 million in the third quarter, trumping the previous record amount, some $10 million, that former President Bill Clinton amassed in one quarter of 1995. Yet Dean, should he become the Democratic nominee, would still face a formidable foe in Bush, the new fund-raising champion, who will take in $48 million to $50 million this quarter.

Yesterday alone, Bush raised a total of $5.2 million at events in Chicago and Cincinnati, according to Bush campaign spokeswoman Jennifer K. Millerwise, and he is expected to receive more than $200 million in total contributions for the 2004 election. The campaigns' filing deadline was at midnight last night, but the Federal Election Commission won't release officialquarter totals until mid-October.

But the third-quarter showing Dean reported illustrated his dominance over the other nine candidates in the Democratic field, with just four months before the first state primary Jan. 27 in New Hampshire. Dean has soared in polls there, where he still has a double-digit lead over party rivals, and also is the front-runner in Iowa, which holds its party caucuses Jan. 19.

"It's a clear sign of how strange a year it's been that the insurgent candidate is now leading, and all the so-called establishment candidates are trailing him so badly," said politics professor Dante Scala, a fellow at St. Anselm College's New Hampshire Institute of Politics in Manchester. "The party elite are divided among themselves, and Dean has found other sources of money."

Dean's most effective campaign weapon has been his use of the Internet to gather contributions. The Dean campaign yesterday tracked the rise in contributions hour by hour on the campaign's official Web dialogue.

"It is clearly the best, most extensive and most far-ranging use of the Internet we've seen," Scala said. "It should really send shivers through all the other campaigns. ... [Dean] gives the impression that he is able to go online and say, 'Let's raise a million by midnight,' ... and that money is out there."

Most other top-tier Democratic candidates expected to bring in less than $5 million this quarter, a slide from prior quarters that underscores Dean's rise.

But retired Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark, the newest arrival to the Democratic race, could pose a challenge later to the ex-governor. The fledgling Clark campaign expects to bring in $2 million after being in the race for only 13 days and holding just a handful of fund-raisers.

Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry -- who had the largest campaign chest overall on June 30, the previous reporting deadline, and raised $7 million in the second quarter -- is expected to bring in between $4 and $5 million in the third quarter.

Connecticut Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, who solicited $5.1 million in donations for the second quarter, is aiming for $4 million this time. And North Carolina Sen. John Edwards is expected to report that he has collected $3 million this quarter, less than half of what he received in the year's first quarter, when he led his party rivals.

The campaigns of Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt and Florida Sen. Bob Graham would not release their totals yesterday. Figures also were unavailable from the campaigns of former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, Ohio Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich or the Rev. Al Sharpton, the New York City civic activist.

Many Democratic candidates sent out e-mails over the past few days soliciting supporters for more donations. Clark wrote that his campaign had made "a tremendous impact in our first few days" but advised backers that his campaign was "far behind in the resources needed to defeat George Bush" and already receiving "attacks from Republicans and other campaigns."

Kerry's campaign website included a recorded message asking for money. His Boston fund-raiser last night, featuring singer Carole King, sought contributions between $250 and $1,000.

Dean was to appear last night at a Los Angeles fund-raiser with director Rob Reiner and actor Martin Sheen. On Monday night, the candidate held a conference call with more than 3,000 supporters at 1,500 house parties around the country.

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