Thursday, January 01, 2004

By Maeve Reston, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. -- As the fourth fund-raising quarter of 2004 rolled to a close on New Year's Eve, presumed front-runner former Vermont Gov. Howard B. Dean had gained a comfortable lead over his rivals by surpassing his third quarter record and raising more than $15 million.

The total also meant that Dean had broken yet another record for Democratic candidates by raising more than $40 million in the year before the primaries began.

Campaign aides said yesterday that Dean's final push for cash at 1,400 house parties around the country Tuesday night was particularly successful. The 22,000 house party guests raised more than $500,000 for the campaign and joined Dean and former vice president Al Gore, who has endorsed Dean, on a celebratory conference call Tuesday night.

Gore told Dean backers that they were supporting "a movement that is already reinvigorating democracy itself and the Democratic Party" and urged them to "spread the circle wider and keep this movement growing." As other candidates scrambled to campaign events on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, Dean planned to take both days off.

But Ret. Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark also posted a strong finish for the fourth quarter, which is only his second fund-raising quarter since beginning his campaign.

Aides said yesterday that Clark had raised more than $10 million in the quarter. Unlike Dean and Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry, Clark has agreed to abide by voluntary spending limits set by the government allowing him to collect up to $250 in matching funds for each individual contribution he has received. Aides said they expect to receive about $3.7 million in matching funds on Jan. 2.

Still, the begging began midday in earnest. Clark campaign manager Paul Johnson urged supporters in an e-mail to post $10 and $25 contributions "to show the rest of America the strength of [Clark's] support -- and make this a two-man race between Wes Clark and George W. Bush."

Even Bush's campaign sent an e-mail message billed as a personal message from the president asking supporters for $100 or $50 contributions and promising to "pit our optimistic, compassionate conservative philosophy" against the Democrats "anger and attacks." Bush has already raised more than $111 million for the race.

Other major candidates also continued to press supporters. Connecticut Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman's campaign manager, Craig Smith, said in a conference call with reporters yesterday that the campaign would not release its fund-raising totals for at least a couple of days, but expected to pull in less than the $3.6 million raised in the last quarter between July and September.

The Lieberman campaign also expects to receive about $3.6 million in public matching funds next week and is beginning a more aggressive radio and television advertising blitz in New Hampshire, which will hold the first state primary on Jan. 27, as well as in the Feb. 3 primary states of Arizona, Oklahoma and South Carolina. Smith said the new ads would feature Lieberman as the moderate choice between Bush and Dean, and that the campaign will spend $1 million a week on advertising in January.

Kerry, who was spending New Year's Eve in Sioux City, Iowa, campaigning, recently lent his campaign more than $6 million by mortgaging his share of his Boston home. The campaign reported yesterday that it had brought in more than $8.9 million in the fourth quarter, which included Kerry's $6 million loan and made his year-end total more than $28.5 million.

The campaigns of Missouri Rep. Richard A. Gephardt and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards did not release preliminary totals, but Edwards aides said they are on track to raise $20 million by the Iowa caucuses. The Gephardt campaign will receive $3.1 million and the Edwards campaign will collect $3.4 million in federal matching funds in January.

Thursday, January 01, 2004

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