May 21, 2:44 PM (ET)
By NEDRA PICKLER and SHARON THEIMER
(AP)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 accept 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.
Delaying the nomination would be a dramatic move and is believed to be the first time a candidate would ask his party to reschedule his nomination so he could stop the clock from ticking on his general-election government financing.
Kerry and Bush skipped public financing for the primary-election season, enabling them to spend as much as they wish until their parties officially nominate them at conventions this summer.
Since becoming the party's presumptive nominee in early March, Kerry has broken Democratic fund-raising and spending records. He raised roughly $31 million last month alone, pushing his campaign total to a Democratic record $117 million.
Kerry started May with $28 million in the bank, far less than President Bush's $72 million but still a Democratic record. Bush has raised more than $200 million so far.
Both Kerry and Bush are expected to accept $75 million in full government financing for the general-election phase of their campaigns, which starts for each when he is nominated.
If Kerry is nominated in late July as the party planned, he will have to make his $75 million check last five weeks longer than Bush. Because the Republican convention is timed later than the Democratic gathering, Bush will have about a month more to raise money from private contributors than Kerry.
When the Democratic Party scheduled its convention, it didn't know it would have a nominee who opted out of public financing for the primaries and the $45 million spending limit the program imposes through the spring and summer.
At the time, the party anticipated it would face the same situation it has in previous elections: a nominee who emerged from the primaries hovering at the spending limit and had to limp through several months awaiting the convention and the campaign-sustaining government financing.
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Associated Press Writers Liz Sidoti and Ron Fournier contributed to this report.
Does anyone else believe that our government can find a better way to spend $150 million than on election campaigns?
