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President raises millions in 10-hour tour of Calif.

Compiled from Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times
published June 28, 2003

LOS ANGELES - President Bush scurried down the coast of California on Friday to collect more than $5-million for his 2004 campaign, bringing the Bush-Cheney re-election effort totals to more than $18-million, and within sight of the campaign's latest goal of up to $30-million by the end of the month.

Bush's schedule called for him to spend less than 10 hours in the state, meaning that he would collect money at the rate of $500,000 an hour. The president went first to a lunchtime fundraiser in Burlingame, in suburban San Francisco, where he amassed $1.6-million in a half-hour drop-by. He then appeared at a dinner in Los Angeles, where his campaign said he would receive $3.6-million. Both events cost $2,000 per person.

So far, none of Bush's Democratic challengers has raised more than $7.4-million.

In Los Angeles, Bush was expected to literally speak and run, with a schedule that called Air Force One to depart only 35 minutes after the president concluded his remarks at the Century Plaza Hotel. Rather than remaining overnight in California, Bush was headed for a weekend in the heat at his Crawford, Texas, ranch, where he was to arrive at 1:35 a.m., extraordinarily late for a man who likes to be in bed by 10 p.m.

Bush's 20-minute speech here, part of a two-week White House fundraising spree that is aimed at demoralizing the considerably less-flush Democrats, was virtually identical to a fundraising speech he made Monday in New York.

On Monday, Bush travels to Tampa for an evening fundraiser at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay on the Courtney Campbell Causeway.

Graham announces Fla. endorsements

MIAMI - Democratic presidential hopeful Bob Graham said Friday he does "not anticipate being on the ballot for the Senate" next year but declined to definitely rule out pursuing another term if his presidential campaign falters.

Graham spoke with reporters to announce a list of endorsements from his home state of Florida.

Among those are 17 state Democrats, including the five Democrats who hope to run for his seat - Deutsch, Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas, U.S. Reps. Alcee Hastings of Miramar and Allen Boyd of Monticello, and former state Education Commissioner Betty Castor.

Florida Sen. Bill Nelson will serve as chairman of Graham's presidential campaign in Florida. Others to endorse his campaign include: U.S. Reps. Corrine Brown of Jacksonville, Jim Davis of Tampa and Kendrick Meek of Miami; former U.S. Rep. Jim Bacchus of Orlando; state Senate Democratic Leader Ron Klein of Boca Raton; state Sens. Rod Smith of Alachua, Les Miller of Tampa and Dave Aronberg of West Palm Beach; state Rep. Ed Jennings of Gainesville; Broward County Sheriff Ken Jenne; and former first lady Rhea Chiles, widow of the late Gov. Lawton Chiles.

Howard Dean tops online primary

WASHINGTON - None of the Democratic presidential candidates received the 50 percent needed to secure the endorsement of an Internet Web site, but their participation in the first online presidential primary could mean thousands of supporters and donations.

In announcing the results Friday, MoveOn.org said Howard Dean topped the list with 44 percent, or 139,360 votes. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio finished second with 24 percent, or 76,000 votes, and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts got 16 percent, or 49,973 votes.

The rest of the nine-candidate field finished in single digits.

During 49-plus hours of online voting at midweek, 317,639 people cast their ballots in MoveOn.org's first presidential primary, 54,730 pledged to volunteer for their preferred candidate and 77,192 authorized MoveOn to pass on their e-mail address to their favorite candidate.

Perhaps more important to some campaigns, 49,132 pledged to contribute to the candidate of their choice. Last year, MoveOn.org members donated $4.1-million to the congressional candidates highlighted on the site, said Wes Boyd, one of two former Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who started it five years ago.

Democrats plan televised debates

WASHINGTON - Democrats announced the first four of six planned televised presidential debates involving the nine presidential candidates:

Albuquerque: The Sept. 4 event will be hosted by New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and will be broadcast jointly by Univision and Public Broadcasting System stations.

New York City: The Sept. 25 event will be a CNBC/Wall Street Journal debate to be shown by CNBC and MSNBC.

Phoenix: The Oct. 12 debate will be hosted by Gov. Janet Napolitano and the Arizona Democratic Party and broadcast on CNN.

Detroit: The Oct. 26 event will be hosted by members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Broadcast plans have not been finalized.

Two debates will be held in November and December in Iowa and New Hampshire, with details to be announced in the coming weeks.

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