It's the Hard Money, Stupid

W A S H I N G T O N, July 15 -- House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt should easily win re-election in November, but that hasn't stopped him from raising money at a furious pace.

In the past two months alone, while juggling his political and legislative responsibilities, Gephardt raised more than $840,000 for his House re-election campaign account. Since the beginning of the year, he has raised $1.6 million from individuals and more than $940,000 from political action committees. The Missouri Democrat begins the second half of the year with $1.5 million in his campaign's bank account.

Why raise this money if it's not likely to be needed for a re-election campaign? Because it can be transferred to a presidential campaign account.

Here's another hint that Gephardt may be thinking beyond the borders of his St. Louis-based congressional district: Of the 848 itemized contributors, 806 do not live in Missouri.

Gephardt's totals are a sign of his ability to tap key sources of money, and will give a presidential bid, which he has acknowledged exploring, an edge. And it's a reminder of how many channels exist through which to funnel campaign contributions.

Gephardt, for example, has a leadership political action committee to give money to other candidates and campaigns. That money cannot be transferred to a presidential account, but it can be funneled to local candidates in Iowa and New Hampshire, and to key state parties, all to sow goodwill. And he has a bank account set up in Missouri to take in large quantities of so-called soft money. The PACs are a good source of political capital, so candidates facing re-election bids and thinking about higher offices will try to parcel out their time and energy.

Like Gephardt, Democratic Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts has the excuse of running a real re-election campaign in 2002 — even though he faces only a Libertarian who doesn't expect to get more than 20 percent of the vote. Republicans were unable to find a candidate. Kerry could tip-toe to victory if he wanted to.