Citing Lack of Funds, Clinton Appeals for More Donations

WASHINGTON —  Democrat Bill Clinton is pleading with supporters for more donations, telling them in a six-page letter he does not have enough money to continue campaigning properly over the next six weeks.

Clinton, who finished April more than $2 million in debt, asks supporters to give him another $50 or “the very most you have within your means to give.”

“I simply don’t have the campaign funds I need today to carry our message and mission as far and as wide and for as long as I must,” Clinton wrote in the letter dated May 25.

Spokesman Jeff Eller said Clinton is worried about facing the better-funded President Bush and the self-financed campaign of presumed independent candidate Ross Perot, a billionaire.

Bush raised $2 million in May, increasing his primary total to $24.2 million, and finished May with about $8.26 million in cash on hand, spokesman Tony Mitchell said.

Clinton is far behind, having raised a total of $14.1 million--$2.35 million of it in May, Eller said.

After the convention, Clinton and Bush will be allowed to spend only the $55.2 million in public funds they each will receive from the government for the general election. Perot has no such limit because he is paying for his own campaign.

However, the parties and independent groups will spend money on behalf of their candidates. Those expenditures do not count against the candidate’s spending limits.

Democratic challenger Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr., who has limited contributors to $100, reported his donations fell sharply in May, totaling about $500,000, treasurer Kevin McDermott said. But even with his $100 donation cap, low May fund-raising and two months without a primary victory, Brown’s campaign is believed to have about $1 million surplus, mostly because he decided not to advertise in California before the primary.