John Kerry and the Democratic National Committee are considering having Kerry not “accept” the nomination until a month after the late July Democratic convention, or perhaps change the party rules so that the delegates formally nominate their candidate a month later. (Via Mickey Kaus.)
Under current rules the party candidates are limited to spending the $75 million in federal funding after they are nominated. Bush won’t be nominated until five weeks after the Democratic convention, meaning that Kerry’s money will have to last a month longer. Unless the meaning of “is” nominated can somehow be changed to “will be” nominated.
It’s a move of which Bill (“it depends on what the meaning of is is” ) Clinton would be proud.
UPDATE [5/22/2004]
The Washington Post runs with this story today on page A1, and confirms that the Dems are seriously considering delaying Kerry’s nomination.
It’s a bit hard to believe the Dems will actually do this, since it is easy to imagaine mocking Republican commercials that will make Kerry’s I-voted-for-money-for-the troops-before-I-voted-against it look positively statespersonlike. For example, can a nominating convention nominate a candidate who is not “formally” nominated until some later date when he “accepts” the nomination? Can he make an acceptance speech of a nomination he has not yet accepted? Would the Democrats be able to keep the $15 million they’ve already received from the feds to defray the cost of a “nominating” convention if the convention doesn’t, you know, nominate?
As Kerry spokesperson Stephanie Cutter commented when pressed, “That comes down to semantics, doesn’t it?”
Yes, way down.
In the nineteenth century, nominees never appeared at the conventions. After the convention, a committee from the national party would either go visit the nominee to obtain his acceptance, or the nominee would simply send a telegram to the convention indicating acceptance. There’s no reason Kerry couldn’t use either method to delay his nomination. But of course, then Kerry couldn’t make the big prime-time acceptance speech, a staple of the modern presidential campaign.
If there’s going to be forced-taxpayer financing of elections, the rule should be altered to give all candidates the funds around Labor Day, or some other predetermined time after the nominating conventions.
It does seem that this incident clearly reflects a policy of limiting campaign spending, some would say free speech, outside of government funded campaign spending and speech. The Labor Day solution is obvious, but those who decided to control who can say what, when forgot to think this through, unless McCain conned Feingold.
The rules as they are currently written put Kerry at a disadvantage. He can either live by the law he voted for or figure out a way to weasal around it. Either way he takes some damage. He just has to decide which way harms him least.