Kerry Close to Decision on Delay, Sources Say

Sen. John F. Kerry plans to decide by the end of this week whether to delay his official nomination until after the Democratic National Convention in July, sources said Tuesday.

The campaign may postpone Kerry’s acceptance of the party’s nomination for five weeks -- until around the same time as the Republican National Convention, which is scheduled for Aug. 30-Sept. 2, to better compete financially with President Bush.

The move would shorten the time period in which the Massachusetts senator would be limited to using the $75 million in federal funds that he and Bush will each receive as official presidential nominees. Once they are nominated and enter the general election campaign, they cannot raise private donations.

The idea of postponing Kerry’s official nomination until the same time as that of the president has drawn a mixed reaction, with some Democrats heralding it as a savvy way to eliminate Bush’s advantage and others fretting that it would take the impact out of the convention, set for July 26-29 in Boston.

On Friday, when the idea was first made public, the campaign said it was not close to deciding. But since then, some party members have urged Kerry advisors to speed up the decision.

A Kerry aide said Tuesday that a decision would be made this week, as did New York Rep. Gregory W. Meeks, chairman of the convention’s rules committee.

“The campaign has decided to make a decision, as opposed to keeping everything in suspense,” Meeks said. “A decision is imminent.”

Meeks said he supported the concept of delaying the nomination. “Everybody needs to know,” said the congressman, who added that he’d been fielding calls nonstop about the issue. “We’ve got to have the focus back on the campaign and beating George Bush, as opposed to what we’ve got to do about the rules.”