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Kerry: Taking Federal Money a Mistake

By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 27 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Was it his campaign's slow response to the swift boat advertisements or the remark that he voted for
Iraq war money before he voted against it that John Kerry regrets most from his failed bid for the White House?

Neither, according to Kerry's reflection Sunday on what he considered his biggest mistake when trying to wrest the presidency from George W. Bush in 2004.

"I think the biggest mistake was probably not going outside the federal financing so we could have controlled our own message," the Massachusetts senator said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

The Kerry campaign opted to accept federal money — and federal spending limits and other rules — after he won the Democratic nomination. The nominating convention in Boston occurred more than a month before the GOP renominated Bush, forcing Kerry to begin spending under federal rules much earlier than Bush.

"We had a 13-week general election, they had an eight-week general election. We had the same pot of money. We had to harbor our resources in a different way and we didn't have the same freedom," Kerry said.

"I think the most important thing would have been to spend more money, if we could have, on the advertising and responding to some of the attacks," he said.

As for other missteps, Kerry said: "I made some mistakes. I know what they are, and I take responsibility for them."

Some political observers believe the Kerry campaign should have acted more quickly in countering an anti-Kerry group, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, that attacked his Vietnam War record.

The Bush campaign criticized Kerry relentlessly for his remark about voting for and then against an $87 billion bill for the military and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan. The GOP used Kerry's own words to support the contention that he flip-flopped on issues.

As for a run in 2008, Kerry said Sunday he would make a decision by the end of the year.

Kerry: Taking Federal Money a Mistake  (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060409/ap_on_el_pr/kerry_campaign;_ylt=Am6hP1KTRccwFc9vTSoOvJ6tOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA3OXIzMDMzBHNlYwM3MDM-)