Outside Groups, Political Parties Spend Feverishly

As the presidential election enters its last crucial weeks, independent groups and the political parties are spending more money than the presidential candidates themselves, reports filed this week show.

President Bush has about $22.3 million to last until election day, while his Democratic challenger, Sen. John F. Kerry, has about $24.5 million, according to campaign officials and Federal Election Commission reports filed Thursday.

Although Bush and Kerry began October with roughly the same amount of money in their election accounts -- $37 million -- the president spent $14.5 million during the first two weeks of the month, including $13.9 million on advertising. Kerry spent $14.8 million; a breakdown of his spending was unavailable Thursday.

Because both campaigns are funded with public money, they can no longer raise private donations, as they did before the national political conventions.

But outside groups known as 527s, named for the Internal Revenue Service tax-code section that governs them, have been raising and spending millions in recent weeks to influence the outcome of the election.

A small group of wealthy individuals has funded a good deal of the amount. Although campaign finance reform legislation banned unlimited contributions, the 527s contend the restrictions don’t apply to them.

Progress for America Voter Fund, the largest of the Republican 527s, reported to the FEC this week that it would spend $12.1 million for three nationwide ads that would run on Fox News and CNN, as well as on local television stations in battleground states. One ad features the young daughter of a woman killed in the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center who was comforted by Bush at a campaign appearance.

The group had previously spent $5.1 million in October, and it raised at least $8.3 million this month. Univision Chief Executive A. Jerrold Perenchio contributed $3 million, bringing his total donations to the group this year to $4 million, IRS reports filed Thursday show.

Swift Boat Vets and POWs for Truth, the anti-Kerry 527 that gained prominence for its ads questioning the senator’s Vietnam War record, reported Thursday that it had raised $2.8 million in the first two weeks of October and had spent $5.1 million.

The group also announced that it was spending $2.7 million on two 60-second ads to run in Florida and Ohio from today until Nov. 1.

The Media Fund, a liberal group that supports Kerry, reported that it had spent about $2.4 million in the first weeks of October. The group announced Wednesday that it had begun airing a 30-second TV ad in Ohio on what it said was Bush’s record of divisiveness. A related 527 group, the Joint Victory Campaign 2004, reported raising $10.1 million during that same period, with contributions of $5 million from billionaire philanthropist George Soros and $4 million from Cleveland insurance billionaire Peter Lewis.

Soros and Lewis each have donated more than $23 million to liberal 527s this election cycle.

America Coming Together, a liberal group concentrating on getting out the vote in battleground states, reported to the FEC on Thursday that it had $16.3 million in cash as of Oct. 13.

The group spent nearly $1 million in both Florida and Pennsylvania in the first two weeks of October, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis. Other battleground states also saw an infusion of money, with $619,074 spent in Ohio, $589,392 in Tennessee, $415,628 in Oregon and $305,470 in Minnesota, the center found.

The Republican National Committee -- which received $12.75 million from money left over in Bush’s primary account this month -- had $52.8 million in cash as of Oct. 13, money it was free to use on Bush’s behalf. The Democratic National Committee had $41.7 million in cash as of Sept. 30, but Kerry had yet to distribute most of the $45 million in excess money in his primary account.

The president also reported that he had collected $10.3 million for a legal and compliance account, but the use of that money is restricted. Kerry’s compliance fund had $6.7 million as of Oct. 13.