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Kerry nets record 50m in 3 months Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aqo2EGj8sV1I&refer=ushttp://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aqo2EGj8sV1I&refer=us
Kerry Nets $50 Mln in 3 Months; Bush Thanks Donors (Update1)
April 2 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Senator John Kerry raised more than $50 million for his presidential campaign in the first three months of this year, more than any Democrat has ever raised in a quarter and more than the $49.2 million party nominee Al Gore raised during all of his 2000 primary campaign.
The campaign raised $38 million in March alone, campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill said in a conference call, breaking the one-month fund-raising record of about $35 million set by President George W. Bush last June. The campaign raised $26.7 million from Internet donations in the quarter, Cahill said.
Kerry, 60, a four-term senator from Massachusetts, has raised a total of about $83 million since he began campaigning over a year ago. That's less that half the record $175 million that Bush has raised for his re-election effort. Bush, 57, has begun to spend his cash this month, running nationwide television and radio ads portraying Kerry as indecisive on national defense issues and prone to raising taxes.
``Even with this record-breaking quarter, George Bush is still sitting on'' over $100 million, Cahill said. ``We do not need to spend as much as the Bush campaign because the three years of the Bush administration are very fresh in the minds of voters.''
Bush is scheduled to attend his last fund-raising reception of the year in Charlotte, North Carolina on April 5, campaign finance chairman Mercer Reynolds said in an interview. Bush attends a reception at a Georgia golf community owned by the Reynolds family tonight to thank more than 500 of his top fund-raisers and supporters.
The Bush campaign will continue to raise money through direct mail, the Internet, and at smaller events attended by ``surrogates'' of the president such as presidential adviser Karl Rove, Reynolds said in an interview March 30 at the Bush campaign's headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.
``I'm glad that we've been successful raising the money as quickly as we have -- without question we've achieved our goal in record time,'' Reynolds said. ``That's helpful since the campaign started early.''
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