Kerry mortgages house, loans $ to his campaign.

I have seen candidates give money to their own Presidential campaigns, but they usually don't mortgage their house to do it.

Kerry Loans Presidential Campaign $850K

By SHARON THEIMER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Looking to jump-start his presidential bid, Democrat John Kerry has loaned his campaign $850,000 and is mortgaging his family home in Boston to provide a future infusion of cash.

Kerry's initial loan, made over the last week and disclosed Thursday by the campaign, marks the first time a candidate has dipped into his personal fortune in the 2004 presidential race.

"This is a clear statement by John Kerry — he is in the race to win the nomination and defeat George Bush," campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill said.

The Massachusetts senator, once considered the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, has been struggling to overcome Howard Dean's political and financial edge in the race.

Following Dean's lead, Kerry last month became the second Democratic candidate ever to opt out of the presidential public financing system and its spending limits, freeing himself to devote as much money as he wishes to early voting states such as Iowa and New Hampshire. Voting begins Jan. 19 in Iowa.

President Bush, who also is skipping public financing, has already raised more than $118 million for his re-election effort, in which he faces no primary opponent.

Kerry began the year as one of the field's money leaders, raising $7 million from January through March. But his fund raising has fallen off as Dean's has soared; in the quarter that ended Sept. 30, Dean raised $15 million, to $4 million for Kerry.

As the current fund-raising quarter began in October, Kerry had raised $20 million so far this year, with $7.8 million on hand. That put him second to Dean, who had collected $25.4 million, and had $12.4 million of it still in the bank.

Unlike Dean, Kerry has said he will limit his overall primary spending to the $45 million the public financing system imposes, and would spend his own money on the race. Doing so will help compensate for the up to $18.6 million in government money he turned away by skipping public financing.

Kerry cannot tap wife Teresa Heinz Kerry's multimillion-dollar Heinz food fortune — estimated at more than $500 million — for the race.

He can take out loans on the full value of property he owns and half the value of property he co-owns. His wife can co-sign loans if the bank requires, but she cannot pay them back. She is limited to the same $2,000 limit applied to all individual campaign donors.

Kerry has reported investments valued at about $700,000 to $2.4 million, plus up to $600,000 worth with his wife.

Kerry's campaign has declined to disclose what other wealth he has, beyond saying he has several million dollars he could use for the race. If any of that resulted from gifts or transfers from his wife, he would have to prove it came before he started his presidential campaign more than a year ago.

Kerry's family home is in an elite section of Beacon Hill, Boston's oldest neighborhood, where cobblestone streets and brick rowhouses border the Boston Common and Public Garden. Past Louisburg Square residents include author Louisa May Alcott and the Vanderbilt family.

It features elegant brownstones with multimillion-dollar price tags. As recently as 2002, the median price for a condominium was $400,000 and $3.9 million for a single-family home.

The campaign declined to say how much Kerry's house is worth, how he would spend the initial $850,000 loan or how much of his own money he plans to spend throughout the primaries.

A campaign official would say only that Kerry will put in at least as much as he would have gotten from public financing, while declining to give an estimate. The program matches the first $250 of each individual donation up to a total payout of $18.6 million.

A decorated Vietnam War veteran and four-term senator, Kerry started the campaign as the presumptive leader with the right presidential initials — JFK for John Forbes Kerry.

But over the summer Dean catapulted to the lead, relying on the Internet to attract supporters and cash. Many Democratic strategists complained that Kerry acted as if the nomination were his entitlement while allowing Dean to surge. In November, Kerry fired his campaign manager, and his chief spokesman and deputy finance director quit.

He trails Dean in New Hampshire, a must-win state for the New Englanders. Dean and rival Wesley Clark are expected to outraise Kerry in the year's final quarter, raising $10 million or more.

Kerry may find himself unable to recover all the money he lends his campaign. Under a new campaign finance law, candidates are given a limited amount of time to raise campaign money to pay back personal loans.

Kerry is not the first presidential candidate in recent elections to turn to personal wealth. Republican Steve Forbes and Reform Party candidate Ross Perot each spent millions to finance their campaigns.

 

I just don't understand it. This guy is a decorated war vet, an established senator. He has all the makings of a democratic nominee... on paper. The fact that he seems as comfortable in front of a crowd as cat with a 5 foot tail in a room full of rocking chairs baffles me. I just don't get it. When Mr. "Is that a smile or you imagining grinding my bones in your mighty jaw" Dean seems more approachable, something is very wrong. You can drop the F-bomb all you want in Rolling Stone, I ain't buying it.