For his second presidential bid, Ross Perot has turned from a free-spending billionaire into something of a penny pincher, using up only $5 million in the first six weeks.
But his campaign coordinator says the low-budget, low-profile start to Perot's '96 campaign has allowed him to squirrel away enough campaign money to narrow his financial gap with President Clinton and Bob Dole.The gap in the polls remains, however. Perot, who received 19 percent of the vote in '92, registers only in the single digits now.
"Our campaign had limited resources, so from the beginning, we anticipated husbanding those resources until October," said campaign coordinator Russ Verney.
Perot has stepped up his spending recently, with more 30-minute "infomercials" and 30-second TV ads, as well as interviews, speeches and rallies around the country. Verney said Perot would spend all of his allotted money by Election Day on Nov. 5.
Thanks to his economizing, Perot entered the final month of campaigning with $24 million left out of the $29 million he received from taxpayers.
Clinton has up to $48 million in taxpayer campaign dollars and Democratic Party aid left to spend over the final five weeks, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. Dole, aides said, was down to his last $33 million.
This year is an ironic change from 1992, when Perot ran as an independent using his seemingly boundless personal fortune. He poured $63 million into that campaign.
When he qualified for taxpayer financing this year, Perot took the money and in exchange agreed to spend no more than $50,000 of his own money.
Clinton and Dole each qualified for twice as much money from the taxpayers as Perot did and are prohibited from fund raising. And they are getting additional help - up to $12 million apiece - from the Democratic and Republican parties.
This comes at a time when party fund raising from donors who aren't U.S. citizens, as well as so-called "soft money" donations from corporations and unions, are stirring controversy.
Perot's Reform Party isn't allowed to help him in the same fashion, and his plan to rely on "good, decent, hard-working people" for contributions has raised just $507,000.
"We will never match them on their foreign contributions, or the illegal soft money they're using, but with our plan we'll make our $29 million look like $110 million of their illegal money," Verney said.