Kerry Digs In to His Deep Pockets

Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts became the first presidential hopeful this year to use his own money to finance a run for the White House, loaning his campaign $850,000 and announcing he would mortgage his home in Boston to come up with more funds.

The move also makes Kerry the first prominent Democrat to draw on personal funds for a presidential race since enactment of campaign finance restrictions in the mid-1970s that followed the Watergate scandal.

“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.

Kerry aides declined to say where the money would be spent, but he has been fighting to gain ground in Iowa, where polls show him trailing former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, and in New Hampshire, where recent surveys have shown him running a distant second to Dean.

Kerry’s campaign began with high expectations. A Vietnam War hero who as a lawmaker has developed an expertise in foreign policy, he was seen by many Democratic leaders as the candidate most likely to break from the pack in the race. Instead, he has foundered during much of the year while Dean -- powered by his staunch opposition to the war with Iraq -- emerged as the front-runner.

Kerry was among the contest’s early fundraising leaders, reporting about $7 million in donations during the year’s first quarter. But since then, Kerry and the other Democrats have taken a backseat to Dean in the financial arena. In the quarter that ended Sept. 30, Dean raised $15 million to Kerry’s $4 million.

Both Dean and Kerry recently opted out of the public financing system, meaning they will not get funds from the federal government matching some of the money they have raised. But the move also gives them more leeway to spend money as their campaigns see fit.

Accepting public funds would have forced them to abide by state spending caps during the primary season -- estimated at $1.3 million in Iowa and $730,000 in New Hampshire.

Kerry’s campaign said it would release details of the home loan once that transaction was complete. The house is in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood; as of 2002, the median price for a single-family dwelling there was $3.9 million.

Kerry’s wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, is the heiress to the Heinz food fortune. But campaign finance laws limit the financial help that she can provide.

For instance, Kerry can use only assets he owns outright, or half of what he co-owns, in self-financing his campaign.

Others who have poured much of their money into presidential bids include Reform Party founder H. Ross Perot and Republican Steve Forbes.

Sometimes politicians who spend large amounts of their own money on their campaigns have been criticized for trying to buy their way into office. But whether the loans will hurt the Kerry campaign is unclear.

“I don’t know that there’ll be any political downside,” said Larry Noble, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan Washington group that tracks donations. “It’s not [Kerry’s] entire campaign, and I don’t think the public has reacted that negatively to people self-funding their campaigns.”