Sen. Kerry Declines, Gen. Clark To Accept Public Funding

[Feanorcurufinwe]

Another Democrat is saying "no, thanks" to federal campaign money.

Sen. John Kerry said he's rejecting public financing for his struggling Democratic presidential bid.

Sources said the Massachusetts senator will instead take out a personal loan to help the campaign.

Kerry's the second Democrat to say he won't take the public money, following Gov. Howard Dean. It's the first time two Democratic presidential candidates are opting-out of the Watergate-era rules.

<snip>

Retired Gen. Wesley Clark said Thursday he would accept public financing for his Democratic presidential campaign.

The retired general had been flirting with skipping the public money, even though he got off to a late start raising money. But a spokeswoman said Clark decided to stay with the public system out of respect for it.

The decision means Clark will be limited to $45 million in overall primary spending. He'll be eligible for up to $19 million in government funding.

Clark has been critical of Dean's decision to opt out of public financing.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt and Sen. John Edwards are among the other candidates who will take the public money.
http://www.thechamplainchannel.com/politics/2638724/detail.html

Correction:
Kerry's campaign initially put out a statement saying he would take out a personal loan, then issued another, deleting that line. Kerry said he had made no decision, but urged his supporters to step up their contributions.

"I don't know what I'll put in," the candidate said. "I'm not going to fight with one hand behind my back."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/11/14/national1425EST0614.DTL

[mndemocrat_29]

1. Will this help or hurt Clark?

I don't know how this will affect Kerry, though I suspect he could risk alienating some voters by using his own money.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

2. Well there's no way Clark was gonna raise enough money

to be competitive without public financing. So this'll help.

[DakotaDemocrat]

3. Agreed...

While Clark's campaign is strong, he needs the money to compete. If he was in the race for as long as the other candidates, who knows, who cares.

Plus, he did not attack the other candidates for doing so. It all points towards looking at the law and see what they can do about it.