WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry is using President Bush's fund raising to motivate his own donors, urging them to help counter the $200,000 or more each member of Bush's new "rangers" fund-raising group will raise.
"I think I have an agenda that can change our nation's direction for the better — and it starts by getting the Democratic Party thinking big again," the Massachusetts senator wrote Tuesday in an e-mail appeal. "To make that happen, we must first beat the Bush money machine — but it won't happen by magic."
Kerry mentioned a new group of Bush volunteer fund-raisers who will raise at least $200,000 each for the Republican's re-election. The group, called the "rangers," will complement the "pioneers," who each raised at least $100,000 for Bush's 2000 primary campaign, helping him collect a record of more than $100 million.
Thanks in part to a doubling of the individual contribution limit to $2,000 this year in the new campaign finance law, the Bush campaign is expected to raise $200 million or more for next year's primaries.
Kerry said the rangers will be "dominated by special interests and Republican fat cats."
Bush's fund raising is "putting the Democratic nominee at a distinct financial disadvantage," Kerry wrote.
He intimated a closeness between businesses tainted by corporate scandal and the Bush campaign.
"The Bush campaign will be armed with every dime they can scrounge from special interests like Halliburton, Enron and WorldCom — to beat them and take back our democracy, we need your help in building the largest grass-roots campaign in American history."
Kerry asked donors to make an online contribution, "as generously as you can, and help my campaign raise the funds it needs to overcome the Bush special interest juggernaut." Republican National Committee spokesman Jim Dyke suggested Kerry was just as vulnerable to association with big corporate givers.
"Senator Kerry needs to take a closer look at the Democrats' donor list — maybe his own. He might be frightened by his own hypocrisy," Dyke said.
Kerry is one of nine candidates competing for the Democratic nomination. Most have committed to taking public financing to help fund their primary campaigns, taxpayer money that comes with spending limits. Those who take the public money will be limited to roughly $45 million in primary spending.
Kerry has left open the possibility of skipping public financing, which would free him from the spending limits. He raised about $7 million from January through March, second only in the Democratic field to North Carolina John Edwards, who raised $7.4 million in the period, the most recent figures available.
Bush began his re-election effort May 16 and has no Republican challenger. He turned down public financing in the 2000 primaries and has said he will do so again this time.