WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush has spent seven of every $10 he has raised for his re-election campaign, more than half of it on television ads, and is asking supporters for more money.
Bush has collected at least $218 million since he began fund raising in May 2003, easily outpacing Democratic rival John Kerry. But Kerry raised about $25 million to Bush's $13 million in May as the president scaled back his record-setting drive to hold fund-raisers for other Republicans.
Bush spent about $152 million through May and began this month with $63 million in the bank. His campaign filed its monthly finance report Friday with the Federal Election Commission.
By the end of this month, Bush and Kerry together will have spent more than $140 million since March on television ads. Bush will have spent more than $80 million and Kerry more than $60 million.
In a fund-raising e-mail this week, the president declared that Kerry ``has certainly got his liberal allies all stirred up to attack me.''
Kerry is setting party fund-raising records with more than $100 million raised and is also benefiting from pro-Democratic groups spending millions on anti-Bush ads and voter outreach.
``I need your help again,'' Bush wrote. ``Your continued support today will mean the difference in a close election. I hope you will make a donation of $2,000, $1,000, $500, $250 or even $100 or $50 today.''
Bush long ago broke the presidential record of $105 million he set in 2000, in part thanks to a doubling of the individual donation limit to $2,000 under a new campaign finance law.
Bush has relied on mailed and online donations to raise money for his campaign since April, when he turned his attention to helping others in the GOP. His average donation last month was $60, the campaign said.
Bush raised about $4 million more in the first week of June, donor information posted on his Web site shows.
If contributions continue at their current pace, Bush will reach $250 million by the time his party nominates him in early September. At that point, he will accept full government financing for his general-election campaign and can use private money only for a fund that covers legal and accounting costs.
Bush used up about $22 million in May, his most frugal month since February, when he spent $8 million while waiting for a Democrat to emerge from the primaries. In March he unleashed $50 million during his first wave of ads, followed by $31 million in April spending.
Ads were again Bush's biggest expense last month, accounting for at least $14 million. Other big costs included campaign mailings, at least $1.9 million; staff and consultant pay and related costs, about $1.4 million; phone calls to prospective supporters, at least $540,000; and surveys, at least $117,000.
The Bush campaign plans to leave the airwaves for several days beginning late next week. The campaign is targeting ads toward times it feels the public is tuning in.
Ads in the 19 local media markets where Bush is on the air will stop this weekend. Those on national cable networks end Thursday, and the campaign will stop entirely for a few days.
Kerry will remain on the air.
By skipping public financing and its spending limit during the primary season, Kerry and Bush can spend as much as they can raise until their party conventions.
Kerry collected about $25 million last month, lifting his fund raising to more than $140 million, the campaign said. He will detail his May fund raising in a report to the FEC due Sunday.
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Associated Press Writer Liz Sidoti contributed to this report.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-4222509,00.html
Kerry Still Standing Despite Ads' Damage
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush's re-election team drove up negative impressions of John Kerry during a relentless $80 million advertising campaign the last three months, but the Republicans failed to undercut the Democrat's standing as a viable alternative to Bush.
As the Bush-Cheney campaign's spring push draws to a close, the Republicans have succeeded in changing voters' perception of Kerry - from a positive opinion held by a majority of Americans to a largely divided view.
After winning the primaries in early March, Kerry was viewed favorably by a 2-to-1 margin. Now, half view him favorably and four in 10 have an unfavorable assessment, according to a Pew Research Center poll released this week.
``The Bush campaign raised Kerry's negatives on the themes they were advertising and reinforced the perception of Bush as a strong leader,'' said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a specialist in political communication and director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
A majority of voters critical of Kerry are more likely to mention his character as a major reason, especially his perceived inconsistency on issues, the poll found. The Democrat didn't help his cause with a handful of campaign slips, including an odd explanation that the GOP incorporated into the Bush ads.
During a West Virginia campaign stop, Kerry said he voted for the $87 billion aid package for Afghanistan and Iraq before voting against it - a clumsy attempt to answer Bush's criticism that he hadn't supported the troops. Kerry had favored an earlier version that called for rescinding tax cuts to pay for the bill; when that failed, he cast a protest vote that would have no impact on the bill's passage.
Although the Bush re-election campaign has achieved one goal - changing voters' impressions of the Democrat - it has been unable to do what President Clinton managed in 1996: open what proved to be an insurmountable lead over Republican challenger Bob Dole.
Eight years ago, the Clinton re-election team, relying on an aggressive ad campaign, turned a 4 percentage-point lead over Dole in January into a 16-point advantage in June. Recent surveys show Kerry either tied with Bush or one candidate holding a slight advantage over the other with more than four months remaining before Election Day.
Kerry's biographical ads focusing on his decorated tours of duty in Vietnam have been particularly effective, Jamieson said. The Kerry campaign spent more than $60 million on ads that attempted to define the four-term Massachusetts senator for a significant part of the electorate that knows little about him and spots criticizing Bush's policies.
Democratic-leaning interest groups spent another $40 million on advertising critical of Bush.
Kerry remains locked in a very close race with Bush - with the incumbent at 46 percent, Kerry at 45 percent and independent Ralph Nader at 6 percent in a recent Associated Press-Ipsos poll.
The Bush campaign plans to stop running ads for several days next week - the first significant pause since the ad campaign began - while Kerry will remain on the air. Bush strategist Matthew Dowd said the ads accomplished much of what the campaign wanted, including raising doubts about the Democrat.
Negative views of Kerry increased among both Republicans and independents, the Pew poll found.
``Kerry hasn't left much of an impression on me,'' said Chris Deorio, a 54-year-old independent from Bloomingdale, N.J. ``I think he's got too many conflicting ideas, he goes back and forth on too many things. He's not the kind of guy who gives me a lot of confidence.''
The Kerry campaign counters that for all the money Bush has spent, the Republican has gained little traction.
``They have used their best opportunity, spent more than $80 million on negative advertising and John Kerry's in a strong position,'' said Kerry campaign pollster Mark Mellman. Most of Bush ads have criticized Kerry, although not all.
The continuing violence in Iraq, the prison abuse scandal and the reports emerging from the Sept. 11 commission that have raised questions about Bush's handling of the war on terrorism have drawn attention from the campaign.
Republican dairy farmer Sam Spadine, who lives near Scranton, Pa., said the news from Iraq has kept him from watching much television, in part because the reports are too aggravating and depressing.
``Iraq was the big thing that has turned me off to Bush,'' Spadine said, citing his opposition to the idea of a pre-emptive war.
The Pew poll found that those who have a favorable view of Kerry said they liked his character or his policies, but were often vague on specifics. Retired electrician Doyle Moreland, of San Antonio, says he prefers Kerry but has a hard time explaining why.
``I know plenty about Bush and it's too much,'' Moreland said. ``I really couldn't say how I feel about Kerry, I don't know much about him.''
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Associated Press Writer Liz Sidoti contributed to this report.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-4222513,00.html
