Election 2004

Clark to top candidates in matching funds

WASHINGTON - Although he has been in the race only a few months, Wesley Clark will get the largest amount of federal matching funds of any of the presidential candidates.

The Federal Election Commission on Wednesday certified the first checks - totaling $15.4-million - that it will pay out Friday to each of the six candidates participating in the presidential public financing system in 2004. That's less than half of the amount of matching funds - $34-million - the government gave to eight candidates in 2000.

Clark, the retired Army general from Arkansas who entered the race in September, months after his rivals, will get $3.7-million, followed by $3.6-million for Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, $3.4-million for North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and $3.1-million for Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt. Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich will get $736,000 and perennial presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche will get $839,000.

Front-runner Howard Dean and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts won't receive the taxpayer-financed payments because they have opted out of the public financing system, becoming the first Democratic candidates to do so.

President Bush also is not accepting public financing.

The program's first payments will be delivered Friday and will match contributions candidates received from last January through November. Candidates then can apply for additional matching funds once each month.

The FEC said Wednesday it may not have enough money in the fund come February when the second batch of payments are due to candidates. As a result candidates will receive reduced payments until the fund is replenished by contributions from 2003 tax returns.

Under the program, the government matches the first $250 of each private donation received by primary candidates who accept an overall $45-million spending limit, up to about $18.7-million. Taxpayers pay for the program by checking a box on their income-tax returns to direct $3 to it.

Each candidate, to qualify, must raise at least $5,000 in each of 20 states in donations of $250 or less and keep detailed contribution records, including donors' names, addresses and employer information.

DEAN FUNDRAISERS: Howard Dean's Democratic presidential campaign raised an estimated $500,000 at more than 1,400 house parties across the country in a drive to swell his thriving campaign account.

Campaign aides said Wednesday that an estimated 22,000 people attended the parties, and an additional 1,675 people dialed in to hear Dean's conference call to the events.

By midmorning, the Dean campaign had raised $14.7-million in the final quarter of the year.

Dean spoke by cell phone Tuesday night while en route from South Carolina to Vermont. He was joined on the call by former Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper.

While Dean has outpaced his fellow Democrats, he has raised less than a third of what President Bush has generated.

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