Ferraro-Senate

January 6, 1998 / 12:00 AM EST / AP

^PM-NY--Ferraro-Senate, Bjt,735
^Rejected by voters in 1992, Ferraro tries again for U.S. Senate
^AP Photos
^By MICHAEL BLOOD= ^Associated Press Writer=
NEW YORK (AP) She's got the name. She's got the resume. But can she raise the money?
Geraldine Ferraro on Monday jumped into the race to unseat U.S. Senator Alfonse D'Amato, but finds herself far behind two fellow Democrats who have already built up substantial campaign accounts for the party's primary.
Ferraro, the 1984 Democratic vice presidential nominee, says she's uncomfortable appealing for political dollars even dreads it. But she adds, ``I expect to spend six to eight hours a day on the phone raising money.''
``It's an awful thing,'' she said after announcing her candidacy Monday at a Manhattan hotel. ``But I will do it, and I will raise it, and we will have a sufficient amount of money to run this campaign. Whatever it needs.''
Ferraro, a former congresswoman who had been co-hosting CNN's ``Crossfire,'' enters the race with wide name recognition. Independent polls show her holding an edge over other Democrats and D'Amato.
But her rivals for the Democratic nomination U.S. Rep. Charles Schumer of Brooklyn and city Public Advocate Mark Green have been raising money and collecting endorsements for months. Schumer says he has $8 million ready for the campaign; Green, $1.4 million.
It's no idle concern. Ferraro lost a four-way 1992 Senate primary, by some accounts because she didn't have enough money in its final stretch to counter attacks against her. She predicted she would need at least $5.5 million by September's primary, although some analysts say it could take much more.
``She has to make sure she has money left for the last two weeks, which she did not have the last time,'' said former state Democratic Chairman John Marino.
``It's going to be tough, hard fought,'' Schumer predicted.
Ferraro opened her campaign with a withering attack on the incumbent Republican, depicting D'Amato as an enemy of schoolchildren and the environment. She promised to be a ``voice and a vote for the hardworking families'' and an advocate for health care and tax reform.
Ferraro's background is wide ranging, from prosecutor to Pepsi pitchwoman, from representative on the United Nations Human Rights Commission to author. But since she was last elected to the House of Representatives in 1982, her political endeavors have ended with disappointment, first with the disastrous loss with Walter Mondale in the 1984 presidential race and then with the failed Senate bid in 1992.
``It's a different time,'' Ferraro said, explaining why the 1998 campaign would be successful. In the early 1990s, ``all they knew me as was a woman who ran for national office. They didn't know the substance. ... Now they do.''
``I welcome her to the race,'' D'Amato said. ``If she is her party's nominee, she will be a formidable opponent.''
Beyond money, there are othe concerns for Ferraro. No woman has ever been elected to the U.S. Senate in New York. Democrats, meanwhile, have been struggling in the state. New York Mayor Rudolph Giuiliani, a Republican, trounced Democrat Ruth Messinger in November. And Republican Gov. George Pataki appears in a commanding position as he heads toward a re-election race this fall.
In the 1992 Senate primary, Ferraro faced relentless attacks from two fellow candidates Elizabeth Holtzman and then-state Attorney General Robert Abrams over the family business dealings. The primary left the party deeply divided, and winner Abrams narrowly lost the general election to D'Amato.
On Monday, Ferraro appealed for a primary free of personal attacks. She said a 1993 investigation by the FBI and State Department, required for her nomination to the U.N. Human Rights Commission, resolved any questions about her family's business dealings.
``If I am good enough to hold the top security clearance that this country gives and if I'm good enough to be unanimously confirmed by the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate, of which my opponent is a member, then I should think that those charges will have been laid to rest,'' she said.
Green responded, ``I've already agreed to avoid negative, personal campaigning and to compete based on who's gotten the best results for working families ... I look forward to a contest of records and performance.''