George W. Bush, the front-runner in the Republican party’s presidentialrace, has 30-million dollars in the bank — and will NOT be acceptingtaxpayer-financing for his campaign. Those taxdollar “matching funds” for presidential campaigns come withstrings: spending limits. Bush says those limits would damage his abilityto compete against billionaire Steve Forbes in the republican primaries. Bush says in the general election, he needs to spend toe-to-toe with VicePresident Al Gore, the front-runner for the democrat party’s presidentialnod. He says Gore will have the use of government planes to fly around induring his campaign.Bush says he doesn’t want to be put “in a box” by spending limits.Bush says with 30-million dollars in the bank, he has the “staying power”Bob Dole lacked last time around. Dole accepted the federal money, abidedby the spending limits, and became unable to fully respond to a flurry ofattack ads run by Forbes. Bush made his comments during a news conference inWaterloo.
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