Sen. John F. Kerry is setting the stage to raise as much as $100 million for his presidential campaign by seizing control of his party's fundraising machinery, winning the support of top money people for vanquished rivals, and attracting thousands of new small donors via the Internet, according to officials inside and outside his campaign.
In the two months since the Jan. 19 Iowa caucuses, the Massachusetts Democrat's campaign has pulled in more than $26 million, including $18 million over the Internet, aides said. Just two weeks ago, the campaign had announced a goal of raising $80 million -- and was greeted with initial skepticism among some party fundraisers.
Although Bush is virtually certain to raise more money than Kerry -- and perhaps double -- Democrats are no longer concerned that the president will spend the Democratic nominee into the ground even before most voters tune into the race months from now. Some Republicans privately express concern that Bush's money advantage will not prove invincible, as they had once believed.
Kerry's fundraising success is crucial to his campaign: He faces a Bush campaign that has already raised more than $150 million and has $104 million in the bank.
"It's like a funnel coming to a head to support John Kerry," said Terry Lierman, a Montgomery County Democrat and Kerry fundraiser. "I have no doubt in my mind John Kerry can raise between $80 million and $100 million. In my career I have never seen people join together this fast and furious."
Kerry's fundraising operation reflects two political trends:
First, Democrats are more united than they have been in decades, and the base of Democratic donors, especially new and smaller ones, appears deeper than most party officials originally projected.
"George Bush promised that he would be a uniter and not a divider," said Alan D. Solomont of Massachusetts, one of Kerry's top money men. "The one group he has united are Democrats."
Second, Democrats are copying Bush's successful model of creating scorecards for their top fundraisers, and have added special Internet tracking systems so that the people who raise large amounts get credit from the campaign and their peers.
Democratic strategists had been warning for more than two years that a nominee without substantial cash resources at this stage could expect to be defined harshly in television commercials by the Bush campaign just when voters are beginning to develop an impression of the Democratic candidate.
The Democrats' success indicates that their party and presidential candidate will not be swamped by a tidal wave of Republican cash, as many Democrats feared after passage of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law.
"We are going to set a record in the first quarter of this year," said Louis Susman, Kerry's national finance chairman.
The $26 million Kerry has raised since the Iowa caucuses includes the take from one record-setting day: March 4, two days after his Super Tuesday victories, when he raised $2.6 million over the Internet, tripling the one-day record of $800,000 set by former Vermont governor Howard Dean.
With a 20-city fundraising tour beginning at the end of next week designed to raise large contributions -- $1,000 to $2,000 -- the figures suggest that Kerry's goal of raising $80 million through the summer is well within reach.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Terence R. McAuliffe said the party will have an unprecedented $25 million in the bank at the end of this month, with no debt. In addition, McAuliffe said the party's annual gala next Thursday has already raised $10.3 million, more than doubling the record set in 2000 of $4.6 million.
Bill Clinton is planning a springtime announcement to help raise money for Kerry and several outside groups, according to a source close to the former president. Meantime, Clinton is one of several prominent Democrats who signed an e-mail appeal to raise $10 million in the 10 days leading up to next week's dinner, which he will attend.
Peter Maroney, who moved from national finance director for the Kerry campaign to national finance co-chair for the DNC, said he will run the Kerry Victory 2004 Committee. The first $2,000 of any contribution will go to Kerry, and the rest -- as much as $25,000 -- will go to the DNC.
Lierman has set up a meeting for next week between Kerry and members of the "Dean's List," a group of 100 men and women who each raised $50,000 or more for the former Democratic candidate.
Last week, Kerry met with about 100 of Sen. John Edwards's fundraisers, many of them trial lawyers who had collected thousands of $2,000 donations. "Everybody in that room is very committed to taking George Bush out of office," said Frederick M. Baron, Edwards's finance chairman.
Some trial lawyers in the Edwards camp are holding back support for Kerry to pressure him to pick Edwards (N.C.) as a running mate. Baron played down the effort, saying it is limited to a few lawyers, who, he said, will soon fully support Kerry.
One Democratic concern has been the threat of defections among Jewish donors. Bush, who has been a supporter of Israel, has sought to win over many Jewish Democrats.
Steve Grossman, Dean's former campaign chairman who now backs Kerry, said 16 top fundraisers, most of them Jewish, held a conference call this week to finalize plans to raise several million dollars for Kerry. Many of those fundraisers, who call themselves the "Dinner Group," are Pennsylvanians and are lobbying Kerry to tap Gov. Edward G. Rendell, who is Jewish, for vice president.
Josh Ross, director of Kerry Internet strategy, said the campaign has a list of 500,000 people to solicit for money, all of whom signaled their interest in Kerry through the Internet. Ross noted that Internet fundraising is more cost-effective than direct mail or major-donor dinner and cocktail events, costing only about 3 cents on the dollar.
The Kerry campaign and the DNC allow fundraisers to have their own donor pages on the Internet contribution systems. That way a fundraiser who persuades someone to give money over the Internet will get credit for that contribution.
Also, a system of titles for major donors has been set up, similar to Bush's Pioneers and Rangers, who have raised $100,000 or $200,000, respectively.
The Kerry campaign selected neutral titles to avoid too direct comparisons to Bush. Those who raise $25,000 are members of the national finance committee, those who raise $50,000 are co-chairs and those who come up with $100,000 are vice chairs.
The DNC has more colorful titles.
Under a banner of "Bring Down King George," the program ranges from those who raise $1,000 to become members of the "Minuteman Corps" and get "a limited edition ePatriot lapel pin," to those who raise $10,000 to join "Paul Revere's Midnight Riders" and "earn a phone briefing with DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe" -- all the way to $100,000 fundraisers who become DNC Patriots and qualify for a host of benefits at the Democratic National Convention in Boston.
Kerry and DNC fundraisers are conducting a joint effort to persuade contributors to all the losing presidential candidates to back Kerry. Overall, the Democratic field, excluding Kerry, raised $118 million through Jan. 31. All those donors can legally give to Kerry.
In addition, Kerry and the DNC are pressing wealthy donors to the campaigns, who are allowed to give a maximum of $2,000 to Kerry, to also give the maximum of $25,000 to the DNC.
Kerry's success on the money front was reflected earlier this week. Lanny Davis, Clinton's former counsel, invited New York Attorney General Eliot L. Spitzer, a prospective gubernatorial candidate, to be the speaker for a $500-a-head fundraiser at the St. Regis Hotel.
Davis said nearly 200 Washington lobbyists and lawyers showed up, four times as many as expected.
"In all of my years in Democratic politics, I have never seen an easier fundraising process," Davis said.
AP News, 19 March 2004
In the two months since the Jan. 19 Iowa caucuses, the Massachusetts Democrat's campaign has pulled in more than $26 million, including $18 million over the Internet, aides said. Just two weeks ago, the campaign had announced a goal of raising $80 million -- and was greeted with initial skepticism among some party fundraisers.
Although Bush is virtually certain to raise more money than Kerry -- and perhaps double -- Democrats are no longer concerned that the president will spend the Democratic nominee into the ground even before most voters tune into the race months from now. Some Republicans privately express concern that Bush's money advantage will not prove invincible, as they had once believed.
Kerry's fundraising success is crucial to his campaign: He faces a Bush campaign that has already raised more than $150 million and has $104 million in the bank.
"It's like a funnel coming to a head to support John Kerry," said Terry Lierman, a Montgomery County Democrat and Kerry fundraiser. "I have no doubt in my mind John Kerry can raise between $80 million and $100 million. In my career I have never seen people join together this fast and furious."
Kerry's fundraising operation reflects two political trends:
First, Democrats are more united than they have been in decades, and the base of Democratic donors, especially new and smaller ones, appears deeper than most party officials originally projected.
"George Bush promised that he would be a uniter and not a divider," said Alan D. Solomont of Massachusetts, one of Kerry's top money men. "The one group he has united are Democrats."
Second, Democrats are copying Bush's successful model of creating scorecards for their top fundraisers, and have added special Internet tracking systems so that the people who raise large amounts get credit from the campaign and their peers.
Democratic strategists had been warning for more than two years that a nominee without substantial cash resources at this stage could expect to be defined harshly in television commercials by the Bush campaign just when voters are beginning to develop an impression of the Democratic candidate.
The Democrats' success indicates that their party and presidential candidate will not be swamped by a tidal wave of Republican cash, as many Democrats feared after passage of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law.
"We are going to set a record in the first quarter of this year," said Louis Susman, Kerry's national finance chairman.
The $26 million Kerry has raised since the Iowa caucuses includes the take from one record-setting day: March 4, two days after his Super Tuesday victories, when he raised $2.6 million over the Internet, tripling the one-day record of $800,000 set by former Vermont governor Howard Dean.
With a 20-city fundraising tour beginning at the end of next week designed to raise large contributions -- $1,000 to $2,000 -- the figures suggest that Kerry's goal of raising $80 million through the summer is well within reach.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Terence R. McAuliffe said the party will have an unprecedented $25 million in the bank at the end of this month, with no debt. In addition, McAuliffe said the party's annual gala next Thursday has already raised $10.3 million, more than doubling the record set in 2000 of $4.6 million.
Bill Clinton is planning a springtime announcement to help raise money for Kerry and several outside groups, according to a source close to the former president. Meantime, Clinton is one of several prominent Democrats who signed an e-mail appeal to raise $10 million in the 10 days leading up to next week's dinner, which he will attend.
Peter Maroney, who moved from national finance director for the Kerry campaign to national finance co-chair for the DNC, said he will run the Kerry Victory 2004 Committee. The first $2,000 of any contribution will go to Kerry, and the rest -- as much as $25,000 -- will go to the DNC.
Lierman has set up a meeting for next week between Kerry and members of the "Dean's List," a group of 100 men and women who each raised $50,000 or more for the former Democratic candidate.
Last week, Kerry met with about 100 of Sen. John Edwards's fundraisers, many of them trial lawyers who had collected thousands of $2,000 donations. "Everybody in that room is very committed to taking George Bush out of office," said Frederick M. Baron, Edwards's finance chairman.
Some trial lawyers in the Edwards camp are holding back support for Kerry to pressure him to pick Edwards (N.C.) as a running mate. Baron played down the effort, saying it is limited to a few lawyers, who, he said, will soon fully support Kerry.
One Democratic concern has been the threat of defections among Jewish donors. Bush, who has been a supporter of Israel, has sought to win over many Jewish Democrats.
Steve Grossman, Dean's former campaign chairman who now backs Kerry, said 16 top fundraisers, most of them Jewish, held a conference call this week to finalize plans to raise several million dollars for Kerry. Many of those fundraisers, who call themselves the "Dinner Group," are Pennsylvanians and are lobbying Kerry to tap Gov. Edward G. Rendell, who is Jewish, for vice president.
Josh Ross, director of Kerry Internet strategy, said the campaign has a list of 500,000 people to solicit for money, all of whom signaled their interest in Kerry through the Internet. Ross noted that Internet fundraising is more cost-effective than direct mail or major-donor dinner and cocktail events, costing only about 3 cents on the dollar.
The Kerry campaign and the DNC allow fundraisers to have their own donor pages on the Internet contribution systems. That way a fundraiser who persuades someone to give money over the Internet will get credit for that contribution.
Also, a system of titles for major donors has been set up, similar to Bush's Pioneers and Rangers, who have raised $100,000 or $200,000, respectively.
The Kerry campaign selected neutral titles to avoid too direct comparisons to Bush. Those who raise $25,000 are members of the national finance committee, those who raise $50,000 are co-chairs and those who come up with $100,000 are vice chairs.
The DNC has more colorful titles.
Under a banner of "Bring Down King George," the program ranges from those who raise $1,000 to become members of the "Minuteman Corps" and get "a limited edition ePatriot lapel pin," to those who raise $10,000 to join "Paul Revere's Midnight Riders" and "earn a phone briefing with DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe" -- all the way to $100,000 fundraisers who become DNC Patriots and qualify for a host of benefits at the Democratic National Convention in Boston.
Kerry and DNC fundraisers are conducting a joint effort to persuade contributors to all the losing presidential candidates to back Kerry. Overall, the Democratic field, excluding Kerry, raised $118 million through Jan. 31. All those donors can legally give to Kerry.
In addition, Kerry and the DNC are pressing wealthy donors to the campaigns, who are allowed to give a maximum of $2,000 to Kerry, to also give the maximum of $25,000 to the DNC.
Kerry's success on the money front was reflected earlier this week. Lanny Davis, Clinton's former counsel, invited New York Attorney General Eliot L. Spitzer, a prospective gubernatorial candidate, to be the speaker for a $500-a-head fundraiser at the St. Regis Hotel.
Davis said nearly 200 Washington lobbyists and lawyers showed up, four times as many as expected.
"In all of my years in Democratic politics, I have never seen an easier fundraising process," Davis said.
AP News, 19 March 2004
