Aides Say Dole Is Over Limit on Fund-Raising

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole busted through the legal campaign fund-raising limit during a three-state sweep that ended here Saturday--a benchmark viewed during the heat of the primary season as worrisome but now treated by the Senate majority leader as a minor nuisance.

Dole campaign officials would not say how much money was raised at events the past few days in Iowa, Texas and Tennessee. But they confirmed the tally would put the candidate’s total fund-raising beyond $37.2 million, the top figure federal law allows presidential contenders to gather and spend before the national conventions in August.

Said Dole campaign Deputy Press Secretary Christina Martin: “In every campaign, you know or hope at some point that you are going to hit the fund-raising ceiling. It means that from this point on, [Dole] is able to focus his time and effort on Senate business and fund-raising for the party and other Republican candidates.”

Texas organizers said that during the 27 hours Dole spent in Dallas, San Antonio and Houston, Republicans raised $1.5 million in their effort to defeat President Clinton in the fall.

“Oh yeah, we’re going to reach the campaign limit,” said Fred Meyer, the former chairman of the Texas GOP.

Reaching the limit would have been a problem had Dole not already wrapped up his party’s nomination, given that his campaign has spent most of what it previously raised. But now, Meyer noted, the Dole campaign can take advantage of loopholes that allow him to raise money for other GOP committees working for his election in November.

“What it shows you is that the fund-raising limit is not a real limit,” said Josh Goldstein, research director for the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington group that monitors the financing of political campaigns. “There are so many loopholes that we have that whatever the limit is . . . all the presidential candidates are able to circumvent the rules.”

Through the end of February, Dole campaign reports filed with the Federal Election Commission showed he had raised $33.9 million and had qualified in January for at least another $3 million in federal matching funds, Goldstein said.

One way the election law allows candidates to get around the spending limit is by diverting some of the dollars to the campaign’s “compliance” committee--a separate fund used to help with compliance of federal election laws, including payments to accountants and lawyers.

Also benefiting from the campaign swing that ended Saturday will be the Victory ’96 committee, the Republican National Committee’s overall election effort for races in November.

Those loopholes in the fund-raising laws are partly what gave Texas Sen. Phil Gramm--Dole’s former rival for the presidential nomination--the confidence to say with a smile: “No, Texas isn’t tapped out” as a source of money to aid the GOP presidential bid.

Gramm was among those attending a fund-raiser in the ballroom of Dallas’ historic Adolphus Hotel.

Many of those drawn to this event and others were giving to Dole for the first time, having contributed earlier to Gramm, former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander or other GOP primary candidates. In Tennessee, a gathering for Dole was hosted by Alexander; in Texas, the fund-raisers were sponsored by Gramm’s former finance group.

In Tennessee, Dole complained that Clinton has a financial advantage because the president did not have a Democratic primary opponent, yet received federal matching funds.

Later, in Dallas, he amplified his criticism of Clinton’s acceptance of the funds. “I think he ought to give it back or give it to the homeless or somebody,” Dole said. “He’s got $25 million and we’re broke.”

The Kansas senator is protesting too much, said Goldstein, the campaign finance watchdog, who noted that not only will Dole benefit from the money he is helping raise for the GOP’s Victory ’96 committee, but that both candidates will receive $62 million in federal money between the party conventions and the general election.

“Neither candidate is going to be hamstrung by the limits,” Goldstein said.

Although Dole’s focus was on money, he was reminded during his Iowa stop of the larger challenge he faces. A poll published Saturday in the Des Moines Register showed him trailing Clinton by 17 percentage points among the state’s voters. The poll also found that 67% of those surveyed said they expect Clinton to be reelected.

“I saw the headlines this morning, and it didn’t bother me a bit,” Dole said at a rally. “We are 206 days away from Nov. 5, 1996, and we know it’s not going to be easy. I found in my lifetime nothing worthwhile is ever easy--you have to work at it. You need to give people a reason to support you. We need an agenda for the Republican Party.”

George Montgomery, a 76-year-old Republican who backed Alexander in Iowa’s caucuses, agreed with part of Dole’s assessment.

“I’m for [Dole] now,” Montgomery said. “But he’s got to have some zip here, some enthusiasm. They don’t have it. . . . They’ve got to get more things going here.”