Democrats Unite Around Kerry

(CBS)  By David Paul Kuhn,
CBSNews.com Chief Political Writer

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Former Gov. Howard Dean will not hand over his list of about 700,000 donors to either Sen. John Kerry's campaign or to the Democratic National Committee, sources close to Dean tell CBSNews.com.

Dean spokesman Jay Carson would only say, "We are going to use the list in whatever way is most productive for the senator and the party."

However, that use does not consist of handing over the list, largely because such actions may dissuade Dean's donors from further contributions. On Wednesday, Kerry met with Dean for about an hour in Washington, D.C.

"During the campaign, we often focused on what divided us, but the truth is we have much more in common, beginning with our fervent desire to send George Bush back to Crawford, Tex.," read a statement from Dean, released following the meeting.

The former Vermont governor, who once referred to Kerry as a "Washington insider who shifts back and forth with every poll," was all smiles Wednesday, as Democrats began a midweek effort to rally around their presumptive nominee.

On Thursday, Kerry went to Capital Hill to shore up support among key House and Senate Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle and former campaign rival Sen. John Edwards. He also met with both the congressional Black and Hispanic caucuses.

Due to Dean's Democratic record $50 million fundraising, which far outpaced his party rivals, his donor list has been sought by the Kerry campaign to help raise an estimated $80 million by the Democratic convention in late July.

When Dean resigned his candidacy in mid-February, he announced his intention to start a grassroots organization. "The fight will go on," he told his adoring supporters. On March 18, Dean plans to speak in detail about his new organization and how it will assist Kerry, and on March 25, the two plan to campaign together.

"The Internet is going to help build our organization," Carson said.
"It's the greatest grassroots network ever created."

Although Dean raised much of his $50 million through $50 and $100 donations, Edwards relied on large contributions from his fellow trial lawyers.

In a Thursday afternoon meeting at the St. Regis Hotel in Washington, the North Carolina senator asked his top fundraisers to back Kerry, both with their votes and their cash. The two men, rivals as recently as the March 2 Super Tuesday contests, met privately earlier in the day.

Although Kerry has not yet dipped into the fundraising well of either Dean or Edwards, the Massachusetts senator has for some time been emulating the populism of his once chief competitors.

Kerry has echoed Edwards' emphasis on a privileged America for weeks and he has adopted the Dean argument that tax cuts notwithstanding, the policies of the Bush administration have amounted to an overall tax increase on the middle class.

Meanwhile, the Kerry campaign is responding quickly to the first negative ads from the Bush campaign, CBS News has learned. It will air a rebuttal ad Friday that will specifically counter charges in a new Bush ad that Kerry wants to raise taxes by $900 billion. The Kerry ad will finish by saying, "Doesn't America deserve more from its president than misleading negative ads."

Until now, the Kerry campaign has been unable to respond in kind to the Bush ad campaign. While Kerry has only a few million dollars on hand, the Bush campaign had about $150 million as of Jan. 31. Liberal organizations have responded in lieu of Kerry, spending about $7 million on "issue ads" attacking President Bush.

The two days of meeting with Kerry's former chief rivals as well as Democratic leaders, lays the foundation for what will be a blitz of fundraising following Kerry's one-week vacation beginning Wednesday evening.