NYT: Kerry "best-financed presidential challenger in campaign history"

[DeepModem Mom]

This is a long, uneven, page-one story, with a poor start, but it's a thorough look into Kerry's successful fundraising. Note: One of the fundraisers highlighted is Greta Van Susteren's husband -- "'We had a whole network of attorneys from the tobacco wars that I got money from,' said John P. Coale, a trial lawyer who began raising money for the campaign in 2002 and eventually recruited others to help out."


Cash Collectors for Kerry Race Run the Gamut
By ROBERT F. WORTH

Published: August 16, 2004

This article was reported by Robert F. Worth, Glen Justice and Eric Lichtblau and written by Mr. Worth.

Behind the story of John Kerry's extraordinary turnabout - one that catapulted him out of debt into becoming the best-financed presidential challenger in campaign history - are people like Bobby Savoie.

A New Orleans executive and nuclear waste expert, Mr. Savoie began raising money for Mr. Kerry after Richard A. Gephardt, whom Mr. Savoie counts as a friend, dropped out of the race. As head of a company that does $200 million a year in contracts with the federal government, Mr. Savoie, 46, might stand to benefit from a Kerry presidency.

Another top fund-raiser is Hassan Nemazee, 54, a New York investor who joined the Kerry finance team two years ago. A veteran donor to Democratic causes, he was nominated to be ambassador to Argentina in 1999 but withdrew his name amid questions in the Senate about his fund-raising and business record.

Then there are the political neophytes like Ophelia Dahl, raising money for a candidate for the first time. Ms. Dahl, 40 and British-born, is director of a Boston nonprofit organization called Partners in Health. Like her, many donors she has enlisted are new to politics, and few are wealthy.

"A number of people said they would take out a loan in order to do this," Ms. Dahl said of her donors. "It was extremely encouraging to see the way people got fired up."

These are a few of the people who have fueled the Kerry fund-raising machine, one of the most effective and expedient an American candidacy has ever produced. Eight months ago, many expected the eventual Democratic nominee to be starved for cash after an expensive primary battle. Today, the Kerry campaign has a fund-raising total of more than $225 million. That is not as much as Mr. Bush's record-setting total, $228 million through June, but closer to it than most Democrats had expected. As recently as March there were 60 people on the list of Mr. Kerry's top-level fund-raisers. By July, the latest period for which figures are available, there were at least 266....

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/16/politics/campaign/16donors.html?pagewanted=1

[Julien Sorel]

1. He's uniter, not a divider,

But professions provide only part of the picture. The Kerry camp has reached out successfully to gays and to immigrant groups, for instance, capitalizing on resistance to Bush administration policies on gay marriage and post-Sept. 11 detention. On July 9, leaders of Indian-American and Pakistani-American groups held their first joint major fund-raising event, transcending their national and religious differences to unite behind Mr. Kerry. The event drew 500 people and raised more than $1 million for the campaign, said Reshma Saujani, a lawyer who helped organize it.

Who'd a thunk it. The impact of ole George's thievery in 2000 might outlive him, bless his little heart.

[DeepModem Mom]

3. Good point -- sounds like the campaign...

is covering all bases.

[bigtree]

2. one of the most effective and expedient

American candidacy has ever produced.

That's my candidate! Good find DMM!