If Kerry goes negative(which I guess it appears he will)..

[ncteechur]

shrub will most assuredly not take the 75 million in federal campaign funds. How will that leave the Kerry campaign in financial resources?
Can moveon and the DNC afford enough ads and pressure on bush? Kerry will have to be careful not to be in colusion with moveon.org or left 527s. I agree that the gloves should probably come off but does Kerry have the money to do so??

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. The 527's can do ISSUES ads and drive home

all those issues...I have no doubt Bush will not take public funds.

[noahmijo]

2. Bush is going negative Kerry will go factual

That's the difference. Saying something to the effect of BUSH LIED when he said he'd use my authority vote to go war is a FACT.

[Erika]

3. Kerry has the truth and the FEC on his side.

Those are free ads.

[DaveinMD]

4. Kerry

can ratchet up his fundraising pretty quickly if that were to happen. I wouldn't be too worried.

[Danger Duck]

5. Kerry's raised a truckload of money

independently, not counting the pacs and what not. He can fight it out.

[ncteechur]

6. I didn't think he could still fundraise once he accepted the matching fund

[DaveinMD]

9. if Bush opts out

Kerry could opt out at that time.

[Danger Duck]

11. I think he's toe to toe right now

with shrub.

[fujiyama]

7. This is a very good question

and something I was thinking about as well. While Bush has said he'd take the federal funds until now, there's no guarantee he will. He has until the convention to decide doesn't he? It's always possible he could change his mind and I suppose it's even more likely if Kerry goes on the attack.

As for the money question I hope someone else can answer this. I've been wondering myself how much money moveon and others have.

[JohnDoe1]

16. A Lot

Think George Soros. He said that he would spend as much as it takes to oust Bush. And he's a billionaire.

[LisaL]

17. Well

He should get on with the spending then.

[ncteechur]

8. Plus the kerry campaing just donated a bunch of money to

the Democratic congressional campaign committee. Can we afford to go negative. I believe Rove's first thought is to drive us out of money. That would leave us in October with no dough. That could be way worse than these swift boat dickhead liars ads.

[smiley_glad_hands]

18. Kerry donated the money he raised prior to accepting the nomination.

Which he couldn't spend anyway.

[marlakay]

10. You can still donate money to kerry through DNC

In my state we can write checks to KerryVictory2004 and send it to the DNC and they ear mark the funds to him. We have been collecting that way. In CA that is.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

12. I don't think he will

but if Bush were to opt out of public financing or something, Teresa could spend some of her money.

[Placebo]

13. Is It "Negative" To Tell the Truth?

I guess so, if you're a democrat.

[Bluebear]

14. Here, here. Bush has been negative since the campaign started

Telling the truth is not 'negative'. Correcting the surrogates saying you shot yourself is not negative.

[senseandsensibility]

15. Bingo

Atleast our"negative" ads will be truthful. That's a big difference to most normal people (ie., not to freepers or mediawhores).

[Guaranteed]

19. This is where the Dean supporters will come in.

When the real fight begins, Kerry will be able to count on us to help him out.

[nonkultur]

20. Will Joseph Sandler be a problem?

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/03/07/moveon.ads/

But MoveOn.org's lawyer, Joseph Sandler, said in a statement that the ads were funded legally, calling the RNC's letter "a complete misrepresentation of the law."

And then we have this:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=39830

The letter is signed by Kerry-Edwards 2004 general counsel Marc Elias and Democratic National Committee general counsel Joseph Sandler.

So... MoveOn.org lawyer AND DNC General Counsil?

[DemBones DemBones]

21. You think defending yourself against slime is "going negative"???

Bush* started this fight.

[ncteechur]

22. No I don't but we all know how the media will protray it.

Even ads that tell the truth will be characterized as attacks and negative.

I did not know that If Bush declines the matching funds, Kerry can then decline them too. I thought once you accept them that was it.

[ibegurpard]

23. If Bush opts out, is Kerry still bound?

If not, I'll send him some money (which I haven't so far) and I'm sure that many people who HAVE donated will do so again.