Kerry considers delaying acceptance of nomination to extend fund-raising

[JI7]

<John Kerry is considering delaying his acceptance of the Democratic presidential nomination at the party's July convention so that he can keep spending the millions of dollars that he raised during the primaries, The Associated Press has learned.

If Kerry were to delay acceptance of his nomination for a month, he would even the playing field with President Bush, who is planning to accept the nomination at the Republican National Convention five weeks later. The party convention would still be held at the end of July, but Kerry would officially accept the nomination at a later date under such a plan.

Kerry and Bush are expected to use federal funding for their general election campaign and will be limited to spending the roughly $75 million in federal funds given to each candidate once they accepts the nomination. At that point, neither candidate would be able to raise or spend private funds.

"We are looking at this and many other options very seriously because we won't fight with one hand behind our back," Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said Friday.

Cutter said other options being considered include having the Democratic National Committee or local and state Democratic parties raise money to support Kerry's candidacy. However, Kerry would not have control of much of the money raised by the party. By law, the DNC cannot coordinate more than roughly $16 million of spending with Kerry's campaign in the general election. >

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/05/21/politics1423EDT0596.DTL

[Straight Shooter]

1. Excellent. This will blow Rove's distraction tactic out of the water.

I'm sure Rove was dreaming up some sort of evil shenanigans to distract America's media and public attention from the Democratic nomination and the buzz around his chosen veep. The closer in time the RNC and the Dem nomination are, the more futile that tactic will be.

Also, the more money Kerry has to fight the bushies, the better.

Good thinking, John, good strategy.

[DinahMoeHum]

2. Remember, too, that the Athens Olympic Games are coming up

in early August, and nearly everybody will be watching that and not pay close attention to the campaigns.


:kick:

[Feanorcurufinwe]

3. Interesting

This is something I was a little worried about so I'm glad to see they are addressing it.

[osaMABUSh]

4. Jeez, this great idea deserves more action here at DU

OK, Kerry's camp pulls out an idea that is awesome - and no one's talking about it at DU? There has to be another thread.

It shows that Kerry is not going to be outsmarted in this campaign and is going to fight to level the field. I think it's a brillant move! Tonight I got called by the Kerry campaign and signed up to give $300. We gotta fight fire with fire.