Kerry can count on biggest-ever war chest

[CShine]

Just six months ago John Kerry had to mortgage his own home to keep alive his bid for the White House. Now he is the best-financed challenger in presidential campaign history. New figures reveal that since becoming the Democratic party's challenger to George Bush, Mr Kerry's coffers have received an extraordinary boost. In recent months Mr Kerry has even been outspending the hugely financed President.

Last March, Mr Bush spent a total of $50m (£27m) on adverts to attack Mr Kerry, while the Democratic frontrunner spent just $14.6m as he emerged victorious in the primary elections. In April, Mr Bush spent $31m, while Mr Kerry spent $35m. Last month Mr Kerry outspent the President by $32m to $22m as activists and volunteers worked furiously to allow the challenger to compete on equal terms with the incumbent, who has raised an all-time record of $213m to finance his re-election bid. While Mr Bush is estimated to have raised twice as much as Mr Kerry, aides to the presumed Democratic nominee say the difference is getting smaller.

"We are narrowing the gap," Peter Maroney, a long-term supporter who works for the Democratic National Committee, told The New York Times.

To some extent the turnaround in Mr Kerry's finances is not unexpected. Every presidential election campaign costs more than the one before and whoever was chosen as the Democrats' challenger - Mr Kerry has yet to be formally selected - would have received millions of dollars as the party threw its weight behind the effort to dislodge Mr Bush. But observers say that Mr Kerry's achievement has been extraordinary, especially given the state of his finances late last year, when he was forced to mortgage his Massachusetts home to loan his campaign $6.4m. In May he reached his aim of raising $100m - months ahead of schedule. Aides to Mr Kerry say the money has come in partly because the country is so polarised and because Democrats feel so strongly about ousting Mr Bush. But Mr Kerry has also used new fundraising tactics, including the internet - a tip he took from the former Democratic frontrunner Howard Dean, who raised millions from small donations gathered online.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=535742