Kerry campaign aims to tap donors of some of his rivals

NEW YORK -- Seen and heard inside a stylish Tribeca apartment late Wednesday night at a $100-a-head fund-raiser for Senator John F. Kerry's presidential bid: Comedian Al Franken, who likes to crack Dick Cheney heart-attack jokes; the actors Steve Buscemi and Richard Belzer, looking a bit tired; more than 100 young, designer-dressed Democrats sipping chardonnay from plastic cups; considerable talk about 33-year-old Congressman Harold Ford Jr.'s good looks; and somewhat less talk about Kerry winning the White House next November.

Behind in the polls and battling perceptions that his campaign is faltering, Kerry has just embarked on a seven-state, 14-fund-raiser tear in hopes of erasing doubts about his chances in 2004 and persuading donors that his candidacy remains a good, smart bet. Facing one hard fund-raising reality -- that many of his supporters gave their maximum $2,000 donations early in the year when he was considered the Democrats' front-runner -- Kerry is now trying to tap the donors of some of his rivals. He is also touting his decision to pass up federal funding for his campaign, exuding confidence that, with donors behind him and an expected bank loan putting his personal wealth behind his campaign, he can win the Democratic nomination and beat Bush in 2004.

Kerry's fund-raising has picked up since October in New England, with almost $1 million in financial commitments, or almost double the amount raised over the summer and early fall. Yet among some Democrats courted by campaign fund-raisers, including some at the Kerry event in Manhattan, there is skepticism that donating to Kerry will do any good for his campaign, which, according to the a poll of New Hampshire voters released yesterday, has fallen 32 percenage points behind his chief rival, former governor Howard Dean of Vermont.

"Right now I think Kerry's the most balanced and experienced of all the Democrats," said David Bender, a 28-year-old marine scientist who came in from Long Island Wednesday in hopes of hearing Kerry's environmental plan (which is extensive but was not in that night's speech). "Howard Dean is obviously the most popular. But I hope donating some money can help Kerry."

Several campaign advisers say Kerry is convinced that he can beat Dean -- asserting that polls do not matter because voters make up their minds after the holidays -- and therefore the campaign must be moving aggressively to ensure that money will not be an obstacle to Kerry's shot at the nomination, as it proved to be in 2000 for Democrat Bill Bradley and Republican John McCain.

Having raised $20 million so far this year -- compared with Dean's $25 million -- Kerry has announced he plans to take out a loan against his assets; advisers say that the final decision on the amount and timing of the loan has not been made, though they predicted it would amount to several million dollars.

Alan Solomont, Kerry's chief fund-raiser in Massachusetts, said that local and regional fund-raising "is going quite a bit better" now than in the third quarter of the fund-raising calendar, July through September. During that period, Kerry raised $485,642 in Massachusetts and an additional $117,450 in the other five New England states, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Overall for the third quarter, the campaign raised $3.95 million, about $500,000 less than expected. Two campaign advisers said that financial commitments from around New England total close to $1 million for the fourth quarter.

Solomont linked the fund-raising uptick to an internal campaign shake-up last month and the recent debut of Kerry's new stump speech, with its emphasis on Kerry's experience with national security issues.

"Look, we had a rocky period in late summer and early fall, but I think people are really encouraged by the changes that have been made," said Solomont, citing Kerry's decision last month to hire a new campaign manager, Mary Beth Cahill, a former chief of staff to Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts.

But others insist that Kerry himself must show even more energy and focus as he speaks to major donors as well as campaigns.

"John Kerry has no one to blame for his problems but John Kerry," said one leading Kerry fund-raiser, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "You excite people by talking about the issues, and if John Kerry has been unable to articulate himself on that it's his own fault."

Mark Weiner, a top Kerry fund-raiser based in Rhode Island, said his only problem with donors these days is that many of them want to contribute more money but have reached the $2,000 limit in election law.

"Not one person has said to me, did the campaign changes hurt him or can he win Iowa or New Hampshire? Donors are most interested in the survival of this country and who will be able to lead it against Al Qaeda, not how someone is doing in the polls," Weiner said.

One of Kerry's advisers also said that the campaign has begun reaching out to past donors to two Kerry rivals, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina and Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, to urge those supporters to help Kerry because he may have a stronger chance than the other two Democrats at winning the nomination.

Patrick Healy can be reached at phealy@globe.com.