POLITICAL CIRCUIT / BRIAN C. MOONEY

Kerry may find deepest pockets aligned with Gore

By Brian C. Mooney, Globe Staff, January 27, 1999

If Senator John F. Kerry runs for president -- a prospect that seems less likely with each passing day -- he must depend on the kindness of strangers for much of the money to fuel his campaign.

Al Gore, the Democratic frontrunner for 2000, has eaten deeply into Kerry's fund-raising and political base in Massachusetts, unquestionably as part of a strategy to discourage a challenge by Kerry, a potentially dangerous foe in such volatile times.

The vice president's plan appears to be succeeding.

Certainly, there are bandwagoneers here. But for years the Veep has schmoozed Massachusetts money magnets and key political figures. Now, he is cleaning up in Kerry's backyard, our survey shows, rendering a Kerry insurgency, an iffy proposition under the best of circumstances, even more difficult.

This is not 1988 when the party establishment closed ranks behind Michael Dukakis, and the local money machine fired on all cylinders to propel the Duke to the party's nomination. That seven-candidate race was an endurance test. This isn't.

A Kerry victory scenario does not require him to match Gore dollar for dollar, but it presumes that some event, issue, or idea will ignite and explode the aura of Gore's inevitability. Former New Jersey senator Bill Bradley, stumping in New Hampshire Monday, undoubtedly has a similar plan to become the anti-Gore in a fight for the Democratic center.

Kerry did get some good news a week ago when fund-raising whiz Robert Farmer, meeting with Kerry in Washington, pledged to help our junior senator if he takes the plunge.

"I'm very committed," said Farmer. "I believe deeply in John Kerry and his public service. . . . If John should decide to run, he could count on me."

Farmer is a big-time fund-raiser. He was treasurer for Clinton-Gore in 1992, Dukakis in '88, and John Glenn's abbreviated 1984 candidacy. But his Rolodex needs updating. Now in what he calls "the fifth year of a three-year term" as Clinton-appointed US consul general to Bermuda, Farmer said: "I can't really talk about anything because I'm in an official position representing our country overseas. I'd have to resign to become involved."

There's the rub. Farmer is still awaiting the White House's naming of a successor. If Gore has anything to say about it, Farmer may be parked a while longer in the mid-ocean paradise.

Kerry's one-conversation-at-a-time deliberations have been so agonizingly slow that many in his circle are convinced he ultimately will not make the leap of faith. But at age 55, this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance for Kerry, and a final decision won't be made until after the Clinton impeachment proceedings.

To compete, Kerry needs perhaps $20 million in the next 12 months. He has ruled out reaching into the deep pockets of his wife, Teresa Heinz. That's a wise decision for a campaign-finance reform advocate. Moreover, what presidential candidate wants to invite ridicule as a kept political man?

Damaging to Kerry, however, is the startling success of Gore's poaching on Kerry's infrastructure -- the in-state fund-raising network which produced more than half of nearly $11 million Kerry raised to crush William F. Weld's 1996 challenge.

Farmer is aboard, as is Kerry lobbyist pal Bob Crowe, Boston Capital's Jack Manning, and development manager Paul Nace.

But our head count shows that Gore fields a bigger lineup of heavy hitting fund-raisers, all past Kerry backers, in Greater Boston: Steve Grossman, departing national chairman of the Democratic National Committee; Alan Solomont, national finance chairman under Grossman; party stalwart Elaine Schuster; venture capitalist (and Kerry neighbor) Chris Gabrieli; and attorney Tom Dwyer. Technology investor John Cullinane says he will support Gore but probably won't actively raise money. Lisa McBirney, Ted Kennedy's fund-raising coordinator, said she leans toward Gore because of her friendship with his Boston-based operatives, Michael Whouley and Charlie Baker of the Dewey Square Group, which also includes Chuck Campion, another Gore partisan and veteran of several presidential wars.

Add Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Worcester Mayor Raymond Mariano, and a gang of lesser pols who support the VP, and Gore has a formidable army available to invade New Hampshire for the first primary and bedevil Kerry in his Massachusetts base.

Kerry is an impressive, resourceful figure, proven in military and political combat. Hollywood loves him, and he will have appeal far beyond Massachusetts. He may even be presidential material. But in a fight against a sitting vice president who has already stolen many of his friends, Kerry may think twice before depending on the kindness of strangers.