Dean to Top $10 Million for Quarter
Democratic Candidate Might Forgo Public Financing

By Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 27, 2003; Page A03

Former Vermont governor Howard Dean, who is considering becoming the first Democrat to forgo public financing for a presidential campaign, will raise at least $10.3 million this quarter, his campaign manager, Joe Trippi, said yesterday.

Dean led the eight other candidates for the Democratic nomination by raising $7.6 million in the second quarter, and there has been a huge surge in small-dollar contributions to his campaign over the Internet and from more traditional, meet-and-greet fundraising events, Trippi said. Dean is virtually certain to win the money race -- an important measure of a candidate's popularity inside the party -- this quarter, too, according to rival campaigns. The third quarter will end Sept. 30.

But he is also spending money faster than any other candidate. Trippi said Dean will spend $1 million on new ads in key early primary states, including Wisconsin, New Mexico and Washington. By running ads so early in the process, Dean is hoping to build on the buzz surrounding his campaign and generate more money and supporters before rival campaigns get rolling. The other candidates are mostly holding back until after Labor Day, the unofficial start to the heavy campaigning season.

Donna Brazile, who managed Al Gore's presidential campaign in 2000, said Dean's "momentum won't slow until Dean makes a mistake and his crowd decides there's something else better out there."

The physician-turned-politician raised nearly $1 million this past weekend, as thousands of people flocked to rallies in Falls Church and several other cities around the country. If Dean tops $10 million in contributions, which his rivals expect him to do easily, he would become the second Democrat to hit that mark in the year before a presidential election. President Bill Clinton did it in 1995, when he was running for reelection.

Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass) and Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (Mo.), who many leading Democrats consider Dean's toughest challengers for the nomination, will not come close to matching Dean this quarter, according to their campaign aides.

"We're not going to raise that -- that's for sure," said Steve Elmendorf, a top Gephardt adviser. But, "at the end of the day, money isn't everything."

Jim Jordan, Kerry's campaign manager, said Dean's fundraising has been an "impressive" feat his candidate cannot match. "We won't hit $10 million this quarter, and we don't need to."

The reason, Jordan said: Democratic candidates can spend only $45 million in the primaries, including the federal matching funds, unless they operate outside the traditional campaign finance system. Candidates for president who agree to curb spending receive federal matching funds for the first $250 of every individual contribution they take in.

This is precisely how all campaigns operated until George W. Bush opted out of the system in 1999 on his way to shattering all fundraising and spending records. Bush is opting out of the system again for his reelection campaign.

Dean might do the same. Jordan said voters would be "distressed" if Dean broke his earlier pledge to abide by the spending limits for "purely political reasons." But most Democrats do not think Dean would pay a political price for doing what Bush is doing: seeking to raise as much money as he can. Trippi said the decision will not be made anytime soon.

"It's certainly something you have to think about," Elmendorf said. "At some point, the match becomes less important than what you get by going outside of the system. This assumes [Dean] remains hot."

Dean, who has raised most of his money in chunks smaller than $100, might be perfectly positioned to make the leap, said Brazile, because he can go back to small donors time and again until they hit the legal maximum of $2,000 per donor. At that point, other candidates will likely drop out, and he can go after their donors.