Kerry weighs delaying nomination

[Lori Price CLG]

Kerry weighs delaying nomination

Dramatic move would give him access to more cash

The Associated Press
Updated: 2:34 p.m. ET May 21, 2004

John Kerry is considering not accepting the Democratic presidential nomination at the party’s July convention so that he can keep spending the millions of dollars that he raised during the primaries, a campaign official said.

If Kerry were to delay acceptance of his nomination for a month, he would even the playing field with President (sic) Bush, who is planning to accept the nomination at the Republican National Convention five weeks later. The party convention would still be held at the end of July, but Kerry would officially accept the nomination at a later date under such a plan.

<snip>

[StephNW4Clark]

1. Does this mean no VP announcement either?

But good move to fight the one-month fund-raising advantage Bush has going into the GOP convention in NYC

[JI7]

7. no,vp choice can be made even now if he wanted

i think this is about officially becoming the nominee. the vp can still be considered the presumed vp nominee as kerry is now considered the presumed nominee though not official.

[damnraddem]

31. Doesn't accepting the nomination at the convention give a chance for ...

a bump in support? Especially given that many Americans (including many DUers) wonder about just what Kerry stands for, could this hurt him? Could this make Kerry further disappear from the radar screen?

[Claire Beth]

2. They (Kerry, etc) are running a smart campaign! n/t

[barbaraann]

3. Republicans are going to squeal and cry about this.

hehehe

[gratuitous]

6. Buy stock in Crying Towels, Inc.

I can almost hear the blubbering now!

[CO Liberal]

30. They Already Are

Limbaugh bitched and moaned about it on his radio pukefest. And like the mindless parrot he is, so is Hannity.

[Spazito]

4. Here is the Yahoo Link

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=694&ncid=716&e=1&u=/ap/20040521/ap_on_el_pr/kerry


Edited to add: Holy crap, this has been out 8 minutes and the Freepers are already hammering it!

Avg Rating: 2.72, 155 votes

[tridim]

14. Yet, the Freepers have yet to start a thread

on the most recent torture pictures. They actually think that if you don't talk about something, it doesn't exist. First class fools.

[H2O Man]

5. Did they say "will"?

or "may"? The story is coming up in a minute. I'm not sure, but I thought they said he may delay accepting the nomination. This is a strange campaign season!

[DaveSZ]

8. Ugh

Whose idea was it to have our convention so early?

[RummyTheDummy]

10. Whose idea?

Why that would be Terry "Boom Boom" McAullife.

[JI7]

11. dem convention is normal date, bush delayed his to coincide with 9/11

the bush people wanted to get as much out of the 9/11 thing and do the whole war president thing. and having it in new york was part of the plan.

[wicket]

12. Convention date

It's not that ours is early, it's that the republican's are holding theirs so late (Bush will accept the nomination in September, the LATEST ever). Usually their convention is in early August, but they moved it up this year (since it is in NY and we all know what anniversary is in early September).

[mydawgmax]

17. It depends on the part of the incumbent

I seem to remember hearing that there is some tradition that the incumbent party, has their convention second with one ususally in July and the other usually in August. I know in 96 the dems were in Chicago after the GOP convention was held in San Diego. In 1992, the dems were New York before the republicans. I don't remember who was first in 2000.

[JI7]

19. republicans were first in 2000

[H2O Man]

9. They said he "will consider"

delaying the acceptance. This is distinct from "will delay," and highlights the need to report accurately on DU.

[David Dunham]

13. Kerry would be smarter to accept in July, let DNC run August ads.

[JI7]

15. i think it said dnc could only spend limited amount

which is why kerry is considering doing this.

[Lori Price CLG]

25. I reported words verbatim from MSNBC, then edited w. their headline/link

Their headline and link *implies* 'consideration' (pondering) by the term 'weighs' that MSNBC posted.
-Lori Price

[VolcanoJen]

16. Works for me. Delay until September.

What's the rush....? Besides, it's one of the main reasons the RNC pushed their nominating convention back to early September...

[cjbuchanan]

18. This is so strange

Just this morning, when I read about Kerry's fund raising numbers, I thought, how could Kerry not except the nomination until mid-August without causing a backlash from the press?

I really don't see how the right could twist this against Kerry since whistle ass is waiting till early September.

Still, how would Dems feel about having a convention and not nominating a candidate for president? Are there states that have primaries after the July dates? Maybe he could say something about wanting to let all states have a say.

[vetwife]

20. When does then mean the convention will be held then?

[cjbuchanan]

27. Well

As djg21 says below, the Dems could nominate it and he could wait to accept it.

They would still have the convention, but he just does not take the nomination at that time. He could have a different ceremony later in the summer.

[djg21]

21. The Dems can make a nomination.

Kerry can simply wait to accept it. I think it's a great idea.

[vetwife]

24. But will they spin this in wafffling? Dramatic strategy ..........

You know...Saying things like..He doesn;t even know if he wants the nomination type thing? They know better but does the dumbed down public?

[UnityDem]

39. yep, like it

nt

[madeuplikebowie]

23. I don't see how

this could hurt Kerry in the press. What does it matter if he says he wants to delay the nom to spend the money hes raised during the primaries? I just saw it on MSNBC and they didn't report it negatively.

[hughee99]

28. Wait until he actually does it...

and he may end up spending most of his extra campaign funds and time dealing with this issue. MSNBC might just be trying to sucker him into this by not reporting anything negative until he actually does it.

[hyphenate]

26. No, that's not how it works

The convention WILL nominate him. He will just delay answering the nomination with a definitive "yes" until closer to the pubs convention. That way he can use more of the money he's raised, rather than the standard $75 million he gets in government funding (Bush gets the same amount from the same source) to campaign between the convention and the election campaign. Kerry's raised some serious money that can be used to greater effect in that extra month, instead of dwindling the federal money before he has to.

[gasperc]

22. the Olympics will suck up two weeks, few ads if any

I'm not sure if this is necessary, the campaign could "spend" pre-nomination money by sending it to the state comittees and have them hold for the general GOTV and stuff.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

29. I like it...good plan!

[electroluxs]

32. So much for CFR

It's all about money isn't it. I'm convinced there are no tricks either party won't pull for the almighty dollar. Sad.

This could backfire bigtime.

[Tellurian]

34. Backfire? Democrats are more resilient than Pugglies...and thats a fact!

and Welcome to DU...:hi:

[Tellurian]

33. I LIKE IT... I Like it-- TOO...

Oh sure, the Pugs will play it, the DNC is in shambles and they've lost all direction. I think Kerry can play this "late to the dance card" with great confidence and scare the bejebus out of the pugglies, delaying raising money..

This is a blast.

Now that the news has broken about this little maneuver...you have to give us the VP nominee...ya gotta keep everybody happy ya know..and I hope your pick is my pick..Gen. Wesley Clark!!!!

Bring it On!

[Mace]

35. live poll on that webpage (kerry is winning!)

If the presidential election were held this week, who would you vote for? * 66579 responses


George W. Bush
36%

John Kerry
60%

Ralph Nader
4%


yay! Bush at 36% haha.

[Tellurian]

37. Ha! 60%...whatever he's doing it's working...good show!

Forget the people that want him to satisfy their anger.
It's slow and steady that wins the race!

[turiya]

36. Why have a Convention?

This shit is starting to make me angry.
OF course, everyone here will say what a brilliant plan it is.
He WOULDN'T have to spend more money if he would just slam bush's ass on Iraq.

[Gothmog]

38. Kerry is not missing any bets

Bush had to get a couple of states to amend their laws to allow his name to go onto the ballot after a late nomination. Senator Kerry should also get the benefit of that law.

It is unusual to have this long of delay between conventions. Everyone thought that Rove was scheduling the convention late to get the benefit of Sept. 11. It could well be that Rove was also doing this to be able to spend more that Senator Kerry. Rove is a devious sob and I would not be surprised that if getting to spend more that Senator Kerry was not an additional reason for the GOP late convention.

[Cocoa]

40. screws with GOP strategizing

:-)

[robbedvoter]

41. very clever, Who cares what they think? Their approval not requested

Go for it! ;-)

[salonghorn70]

42. This Is The Way It Will Work

The Thursday night schedule can remain the same, i.e., speeches by the VP and Kerry. Therefore he will still get all the traditional tv coverage and the convention bump. He just won't use the words "I accept your nomination." Sounds like a very clever idea to me.

[arwalden]

43. I Don't Believe This Will Work

Is what makes a nomination? The voting? The counting of the votes? The acceptance?

How about the ban on soft-money ads during the one-month run-up to the nomination? Will they be permitted if we know in advance that he's not going to accept until later? Or will they still be banned? Will the ban be extended until such time that he does accept? Or will the clock on banned ads be started based upon his *anticipated* acceptance date?

How do the federal funds for the convention come into play? Will we need to refund that money since the nomination didn't happen at the convention? Will the DNC be in default or any contractual obligations that were made in order to qualify for those federal funds?

I don't think it would be wise for the Kerry campaign folks to act unilaterally on this... it would require much coordination and cooperation with the federal election commission.

And EVEN IF there was an agreement with the FEC, you know it would be challenged by the RNC... it would go to the Supreme Court... and we know how THEY feel about fair elections and fair campaigns.

-- Allen