WASHINGTON — President Bush picked up more than $5 million for his reelection fund Tuesday in a swing through the Midwest, as he and the Democrats wanting to replace him continued to scour the country for contributions.
The money Bush raised during stops in Chicago and Cincinnati upped donations to his campaign to about $50 million for the year's third quarter, which ended Tuesday. That was more than triple what former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, the leading Democratic fund-raiser, was able to collect in July, August and September. Dean had $14.2 million and counting for the period as of Tuesday evening; as he finished a day of campaigning in Southern California with a rally at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles, he was hoping to end the quarter with about $15 million. The other leading Democratic candidates were reporting that they expected to raise about a third as much as Dean -- or less.
Some of the Democrats, in a reflection of the quickening pace of the 10-way fight for the party's 2004 nomination, had more than money on their minds Tuesday. Gen. Wesley Clark, who joined the race two weeks ago, hunted for congressional endorsements to boost his late-starting run. Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts gained the backing of a former White House aspirant, Gary Hart, and gave a speech in Washington amplifying his criticism of the Bush administration's handling of postwar Iraq.
Another Democratic candidate, Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, received bad news when John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, said the labor federation would postpone a decision on endorsing a candidate.
Gephardt, who has been courting organized labor all year and has more union endorsements than any of his rivals, had hoped to capture the AFL-CIO's backing to give his campaign a shot of momentum.
Sweeney praised Gephardt as "a real friend of working people and a powerful voice for working families." But official backing from the AFL-CIO is seen as critical to Gephardt's hopes, especially in the Jan. 19 Iowa caucuses.
Bush's poll numbers have been dropping as public concern has mounted about the economy and the continuing violence in Iraq. But in his two stops Tuesday, the president reminded his Democratic foes of the formidable financial assets he brings to the race.
He raised at least $3.5 million at a luncheon in Chicago and roughly $1.7 million later in Cincinnati. After the final tallying, it may prove Bush's most lucrative fund-raising day. And it may prove a day in which he collected more than the Democratic candidates -- other than Dean -- raised for the entire quarter.
