Kerry says he might exceed spending limit

[Freddie Stubbs]

Would follow suit if Dean rejects public financing

WASHINGTON -- Senator John F. Kerry said yesterday that he would break a federal spending cap, reject public financing for the presidential primaries, and possibly use his personal funds if Howard Dean's fund-raising strength leads the former Vermont governor to go beyond the federal spending limit.

Dean sent a letter to the government in June saying he would abide by the limit, but is now considering exceeding the cap.

"If Howard Dean decides to go live outside of it, I'm not going to wait an instant," Kerry said in an interview at his campaign headquarters. "Decision's made. I'll go outside. Absolutely. I'm not going to disarm."

As recently as Aug. 31, the Massachusetts Democrat expressed indecision on the matter, saying only that he would "reserve the right" to exceed the cap if Dean did so.

more: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2003/09/11/kerry_says_he_might_exceed_spending_limit/

[liberalnurse]

1. Dean gets it from all sides......

It just makes me want to work that much harder.

It sounds like he is trying to threaten me, a Deanie....I'm rather turned off by that plan. His wife is heir of the Heinz Company fortune ....It's going to be hard to match that by grassroots everyday folks. Thats why I feel attacked by his plan.

[LastDemInIdaho]

2. *His* personal funds?

Did he perhaps mean his wifes personal funds?

[liberalnurse]

3. I don't know if he can use them or not....

My mental picture here is, "Oh honey, guess what I want for Christmas."

[Octafish]

4. DEAN wants to go off the books and people attack Kerry?

Why the hypocricy? If Dean wants to forego federal matching-funds financing and exceed its spending limitations, Kerry needs to follow suit. It's the nature of the TV-campaign beast.

For those who don't know: Kerry has been a strong supporter of campaign finance reform since he was elected to the US Senate in 1984. Kerry has never taken money from a corporate PAC.

Something else: Dean is from old, old money. His family is old time GOP.

[IndianaGreen]

7. The democratic nominee will have to "go off the books" anyway

There is no way the Democrats can compete against Bush by remaining with matching funds, it would be a slaughter!

The reality is that to compete, the democratic nominee will have to "go off the books" anyway!

If Kerry or Gephardt were the nominees, their supporters would be trumpeting the need to match Bush dollar for dollar, so spare us the phony outrage!

[AWD]

5. John, John, John

...you'd be the frontrunner if you ran YOUR campaign, not the "I'll do what Dean does" campaign.

You're better than this, Senator Kerry. If you don't snap out of it and run YOUR campaign, you'll still be called "Senator Kerry" in another 14 months.......

[demdave]

6. I have no problem with Dean rejecting public money

It can be spent on better things than somones political career. If you are popular enough to get people to donate, good. If not, that should tell you something.

I also can't fault Kerry for going to the pantry and getting the ketchup money. It, once again, is his money to spend. At least it isn't out of my pocket.


I do have a problem with Dean if the last couple of sentences are true......


"Earlier this year, it was Dean who criticized Kerry over the possibility of exceeding the spending cap. Speaking last March, before he took the lead in New Hampshire polls, Dean warned that Kerry would pay a political price if he broke the spending limit.

"It will be a huge issue," Dean said at the time, "because I think most Democrats believe in campaign finance reform.""


I don't know the context though. Does anyone have some info on exactly what he meant by this statement? It looks rather hypocritical at the moment. If he thought it was a "huge issue" at the time, does it mean he no longer believes in campaign finance reform?