So Many Democrats, So Few Dollars

The Washington Post ^ | 6/22/03 | David S. Broder

[LdSentinal]

Last year, when Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe was pushing through the presidential primary calendar changes that he hoped would accelerate the choice of the 2004 Democratic nominee, he was asked how many of his party's potential contenders he thought could meet the stiff financial challenge of the front-loaded contest.

McAuliffe, to my surprise, said enough Democratic money was around for "five or six -- maybe more" of the contenders to mount full-scale campaigns.

Those who accept partial public financing of their campaigns -- and so far, all of the nine declared candidates indicate they will do that -- can spend a maximum of about $44 million apiece on the race. If McAuliffe is right, it means that more than $100 million in limited contributions will have to come from individual Democratic donors to trigger the federal matching funds for small donations.

Because of the high-speed schedule of primaries and caucuses that McAuliffe has encouraged in order to identify the challenger to President Bush by the first or second Tuesday in March, virtually all this dough will have to be in hand this year.