First Door on the Left

BOSTON (November 4, 8:04 p.m. PST) - Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean, making a powerful case to abandon the U.S. public finance system, will ask 600,000 supporters to decide whether he should take the historic step to avoid campaign spending limits, the Associated Press has learned.

Dean is asking his backers this week to vote by e-mail, Internet, telephone or U.S. mail on whether he should remain in the system or join President Bush in raising unlimited campaign contributions. He would be the first candidate in Democratic Party history to reject federal campaign money and the spending limits that come with it.

Just eight months ago, the former Vermont governor committed to accepting taxpayer money and vowed to criticize any Democrat who didn’t. But campaign officials said Dean now realizes that the Democratic nominee will face a severe cash disadvantage against Bush, who plans to abandon the system for the second time and raise upward of $170 million.

Candidates who take the matching funds can get up to $18.7 million - money Dean would be turning away if he rejects the system - and are limited to about $45 million in spending through the primary season.

Dean reported raising $25 million as of Sept. 30 and, campaign officials say, has raised about $5 million since then.

That means he’s already bumping up against the $45 million cap, when matching money is factored in. By opting out of the system, Dean would be taking a calculated risk that he can raise much more than $45 million.

Putting such a critical choice in the hands of his supporters is another first for Dean, who has already revolutionized the way campaigns use the Internet to raise money and build grass-roots operations.

While he outlines a compelling case for opting out of the system in an e-mail being sent to contributors Wednesday morning, Dean makes it clear that the decision is up to his supporters, said the campaign officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Some of the officials expressed hope that supporters would vote for Dean to opt out of the system. Others reacted with surprise and alarm at the risk Dean was taking. They all refused to predict the tally’s outcome.

At least three Republicans have opted out of the system: Bush and Steve Forbes in 2000, and John Connally in 1980.

If Dean abandons the system, Democratic rivals John Kerry and Wesley Clark may follow suit. Kerry is personally wealthy while Clark has had success raising money since he entered the race in September.

Bush is expected to accept public financing for the general election, which begins after the GOP convention ends in September 2004. But the president, who is unopposed for the GOP nomination, plans to use his enormous primary campaign war chest to air political ads and develop a get-out-the-vote operation during spring 2004 - in hopes that the Democratic nominee, limited by caps, cannot respond.

Dean will lay out the choices to voters in a Wednesday speech at New York’s Cooper Union. The vote results should be made public in the next few days.

In a March 7 interview with The Associated Press, Dean committed to accept the taxpayer money.

“We’ve always been committed to this. Campaign finance reform is just something I believe in,” he said in March. Dean also said his position was not based on any political considerations, such as the size of the field or how much money he can raise.

He reversed course in August, citing Bush’s plans to raise $200 million - five times the spending limit - as a reason for keeping his options open.

“I think public financing is a good thing. The question is what do you do with an opponent who can murder you from March to December?” Dean said.