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At fund-raiser, Forbes raises $1 million for 2000 presidential bid
June 17, 1999 NEW YORK (AllPolitics, June 17) -- Reaching beyond his family fortune, Republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes raised more than $1 million for his 2000 campaign Wednesday. The dinner at Manhattan's Waldorf-Astoria hotel drew more than 1,000 guests paying a $1,000-a-plate, raising $1.1 million -- the biggest fund-raiser the candidate has ever held. "Tonight, I am here to ... officially launch my candidacy for president of the United States," Forbes told the crowd. He actually made his first formal campaign announcement on the Internet on March 16. Although leading GOP candidate George W. Bush entered full campaign mode last weekend, Forbes was quiet on the Texas governor, saying only that the American people needed a choice. "A choice based on what is real, not on spin, not on symbolic gestures, not on evasion, not on glittering rhetoric designed to dazzle and obscure, but on real issues and honest answers," Forbes said This is Forbes' second consecutive run for the Republican nomination. He won only Arizona's and Delaware's early contests in the 1996 primary season after spending $37 million of his own money and $5 million raised from other sources. He went to the Republican convention with the third largest cache of delegates, behind eventual party nominee Bob Dole and candidate Pat Buchanan. "We will raise $25 million," said Forbes press secretary Juleanna Glover Weiss. "No one will raise more, except George W." 'Character does count'On Wednesday, the day that Vice President Gore officially launched his presidential campaign, Forbes targetted the Democrats by name only once. "Under the Clinton-Gore administration, our military has been hollowed out and sent on numerous foreign adventures," Forbes said, though he didn't mention Kosovo or any places. "I ask you, is the world more organized than when they took over? Are our armed forces stronger or weaker? Is our classified intelligence more secure or at jeopardy? Is our mission clearer or more confused?" Forbes rhetorically said to his supporters. Former Reagan Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger and conservative publisher William F. Buckley were among the dinner guests. Forbes was introduced by actor Yaphet Kotto, a star of the TV show, "Homicide." Forbes reiterated a number of policy positions -- scrapping the tax code and replacing it with a flat tax; implementing "medical savings accounts" and better catastophic health insurance; shifting Social Security funds into IRAs; and promoting more parental choice in public education. In his final salvo, Forbes, the multimillionaire publisher, said one lesson of Clinton's "past six-and-a-half years" is that "character does count." "What a president owes the American people is a respect for reality, a respect for truth, and a respect for law," Forbes said. "Undermine truth and you undermine trust, the moral basis for democratic capitalism, without which our system can no more function than a car without oil." |
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MORE STORIES:Thursday, June 17, 1999
• Gore, on campaign stump, says no return to 'old and broken policies of past' • Transcript: Al Gore's chat with AllPolitics • Election briefs: News on Quayle, Dole and Bradley • Hatch may join already-crowded GOP presidential field • State polls give early glimpse at electoral break down • Hatch demands conclusion to Justice probe of Starr • Holbrooke faces GOP grilling on ethics charges • At fund-raiser, Forbes raises $1 million for 2000 presidential bid • U.S. on road to online voting • Vietnam crypt at Tomb of the Unknowns to remain empty • Gore and Bush: Two slick, made-for-TV campaigns solidify candidates' front-runner status • House panel OKs bill that would prevent federal shutdowns • Senate considers loan guarantees for steel, oil and gas • Gore sees boost from first lady in Senate race • REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK: A nostalgic stroll and mob control • House panel, Clinton administration explore Social Security compromise • Republicans use Gore's words against him • Ickes, a tenacious operative, Mrs. Clinton's 'oak tree' in New York • Education Department lowers fees on government loans • Summers says his challenge will be to stay the course • Gore balances Clinton loyalty, independence • Secrets make Washington world's 'shredder capital' • Medical privacy debate hits snag over abortion • Senate Democrats block House-passed GOP Social Security plan | ||||||||||||||||||
