Kerry set to disburse millions, get US funds

John F. Kerry is poised to take federal campaign money once he is nominated for the presidency next week, according to top campaign finance advisers, a move that will allow him to disburse millions of dollars in leftover campaign cash to Democratic Party operations, effectively augmenting the $75 million he will receive in federal funds.

Aides expect the Kerry campaign committee to end up with enough money to make sizable transfers to the Democratic National Committee, state Democratic committees, and possibly the committees working to elect a Democratic Congress. The aim would be to have the committees, especially those in battleground states, air television ads on Kerry's behalf this fall, and finance get-out-the-vote operations on Election Day.

Such efforts at the national and state levels will help mitigate the spending advantage that President Bush has by virtue of his later nomination date. Candidates accepting federal financing must stop using their campaign's privately raised funds once they have accepted the nomination. Because Kerry's nomination will come on July 29 -- five weeks before President Bush's -- the Massachusetts senator's $75 million must cover 13 weeks, while Bush's $75 million will cover just eight weeks.

Kerry also plans to repay himself for a $6.4 million loan he gave to his cash-strapped organization last December, according to one adviser.

"The loan will be repaid," the adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said yesterday. "The question is when." A campaign spokesman, Michael Meehan, said Kerry has yet to make a final decision.

The DNC has $63 million in the bank, and its chairman, Terry McAuliffe, has pledged to raise an additional $100 million to benefit Kerry through grass-roots organizing and independent television ads. Kerry is planning to pull his own advertising during the month of August.

The Kerry campaign has broken all party records for fund-raising, having brought in at least $34 million last month and $182 million since becoming a presidential candidate. Kerry also has spent a record sum for a Democrat on ads, and his most recent report showed him with $28 million cash on hand as of May 30. The latest reports are due today at the Federal Election Commission.

Under federal law, a candidate can receive $75 million, which is accumulated through the $3 check-off on federal tax returns, only if he ceases fund-raising for himself and limits his fall spending to that total. Under the same rules, a candidate is allowed to disperse any money remaining in his privately funded campaign account after he pays off any final bills.

Kerry had weighed financing his general election campaign himself, just as both he and President Bush turned down $45 million in federal funds this spring in favor of self-financing their primary campaigns. The Kerry adviser said he expects Kerry to take the federal money for the general election campaign because rejecting it would necessitate netting at least $75 million from private donors during a three-month span when many Americans are on vacation (August) and Kerry will be in the throes of debates and other final campaigning (September and October). Bush is expected to follow suit.

Aides expect the precise sum remaining in the campaign's coffers will be determined late next week when Kerry shuts down his private fund-raising account to accept the general election funds from the US Treasury.

From July 29, Kerry will have a 20-day period in which he must decide whether he wants to use campaign funds to repay his personal loan to the committee. If he does not take the campaign money during that window, the campaign must log the loan as a contribution and Kerry must repay the $6.4 million bank loan himself.

The campaign has been making the monthly loan payments. Bush, however, will be free to continue raising and spending money from private donors until his nomination on Sept. 2. He has raised more than $215 million. A second top adviser said Kerry plans to husband his $75 million until Bush receives his own allotment, gambling that potential voters will be distracted by vacation, two weeks of Olympics coverage from Greece, and a week of TV coverage of the Republican convention in New York, which begins Aug. 30.

The Associated Press said Kerry is planning a two-week trip through battleground states after the Democratic convention, but will pull his television ads during August to save money.

Traveling by bus, boat, and train, he is expected to visit Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, Iowa, Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon, plus a few GOP and Democratic strongholds, the Associated Press quoted unnamed Kerry officials as saying.

The disbursal plan is one attempt by the campaign to protect Kerry during that five-week period. Doling out surplus campaign money will ensure that like-minded committees at the national and state levels have the capacity to air television ads should the Bush campaign launch its own ad onslaught in August. While federal law bars the campaign from coordinating with the committees and Democratic-leaning organizations known as 527s that have been supporting Kerry throughout the campaign, Kerry will be counting on them for support if necessary.

"All of those people are aware this is going to be a period when we are dark," said the second adviser, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity.

McAuliffe will oversee the Democratic National Committee's spending, but he has insisted during several interviews that he has not consulted with the Kerry campaign about the project. To date, Kerry has aired solely positive spots, emphasizing his biography and policy views.

The committee and other outside groups could air negative spots while allowing the campaign to maintain distance from any potential fallout.

Kerry is also allowed to give surplus funds to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which are aiming to elect Democrats to the Senate and House. In previous campaigns, their ad messages have dovetailed with those voiced by the party's presidential nominee.

Kerry and his running mate, John Edwards, have been engaged in a fund-raising rush since becoming a team on July 6. They brought in $7.2 million for the campaign and the DNC during one gala in New York.

Both campaign advisers said they expect that to continue to a lesser degree this fall on behalf of the DNC and other committees.

The advisers also said they expect that fund-raising to offset criticism Kerry might receive from contributors who see their money diverted from the campaign to repayment of his personal loan.

Kerry has said he would prefer to repay the loan. Asked whether he would seek repayment of the loan, Kerry said during a July 10 interview with the Globe, "I don't know where we are in our cash flow or anything, but I'd sure like to."

Glen Johnson can be reached at johnson@globe.com.