BOSTON, July 29 -- The Democratic Party is planning a $100 million advertising campaign in support of John F. Kerry, employing novel tactics to enable its presidential nominee to husband limited resources for use in the fall campaign against President Bush (news - web sites), party officials said Thursday.
Husband limited resources??? OMG, W, give it up now. You can't go up against the (b)millionaire king daddy number #1 ketchup master blaster resource husband of all time. Go back to Texas and chop some wood and ride your bike, bro.
Flush with more than $60 million in the bank, the Democratic National Committee (news - web sites) has set up a separate campaign operation with its own pollster, television consultants and media buyer to run a full-scale "independent" drive on behalf of Kerry. On Saturday, the first week's TV buy, worth $6 million, starts in 20 battleground states.
The first commercial is likely to use film clips of Kerry's acceptance speech at the convention here Thursday. Under federal campaign law, starting Friday, the Kerry campaign may spend only the $75 million it has agreed to accept from the federal government to run its general election campaign. Party officials are concerned that the rules could leave Kerry at a disadvantage to Bush, who may spend privately raised funds until he formally accepts the GOP nomination Sept. 2.
To counter Bush, the Democrats have adopted ambitious plans to take every advantage of the new campaign finance law, which allows the parties to mount independent expenditures on behalf of their nominees as long as the efforts are not coordinated with the candidates' campaigns. The new plans reflect the Democrats' unexpected success in tapping new donors for the fall campaign, with party officials estimating that Kerry, the party and independent liberal groups could raise as much as $225 million for unseating Bush in November
After Kerry's acceptance of his party's nomination Thursday night, his campaign halted fundraising and shifted to federal funding. At the same time, the Kerry campaign linked its Web site to that of the Democratic National Committee, in a bid to channel prospective donors to the party's fundraising operation. Party officials say they expect the most expensive Democratic general-election campaign in history.
EFL... well I don't want to put anyone hard at work to sleep. |