SACO – Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean threw down the gantlet to political rivals this weekend by becoming the first Democratic presidential candidate ever to reject federal campaign funding for primary expenses.

Instead, the early front-runner in the race will launch a massive grass-roots fund-raising campaign designed to depict President Bush as a “big money” candidate whose re-election bid is financed by wealthy supporters and large corporate interests. At Saturday rallies in Burlington, Vt., and Saco, Dean laid out his simple, but ambitious, strategy for leveling the playing field against Bush in the crucial contest for campaign funding.

“We’re going to reach out like we did today and get 2 million people to give us $100 apiece,” Dean told more than 500 Maine Democrats at the Cascades Inn in Saco. “We’re going to match George Bush’s finances, and our campaign is going to be campaign finance reform. We’re going to get 3 [million] or 4 million people to the polls that either didn’t vote last time or voted third party. This time we’re going to have more votes than George Bush, and when we do, this time the person with the most votes is going to the White House.”

Dean’s decision to opt out of the Watergate-era public financing system for primaries was motivated as much by the funding challenges posed by the GOP incumbent as by his feelings about campaign finance reform. Bush raised $100 million to win the presidency in 2000 when he chose not to accept public funds, a strategy he has said he will continue in his run for re-election.

By choosing to skip the public funding route, both candidates would not be subjected to the $45 million spending cap imposed as a precondition for accepting nearly $19 million in matching federal funds through the end of the primary season in July. Assuming Dean becomes the party’s presidential nominee, by declining the federal funds he could spend as much money as he needed to go head-to-head with Bush who faces no primary opponent and is building a campaign war chest of nearly $200 million. After the primaries, both candidates would still be eligible to receive nearly $75 million in federal matching funds for the general election in November.

Dean supporters are convinced that accepting federal matching primary funds with the attached cap would provide an unfair advantage to the Bush campaign. In a prepared Internet statement, the candidate maintained that while he originally supported public financing, his decision to opt out Saturday was reached after the president’s fund-raising activities thwarted “our democratic processes with a flood of special interests money [and] forced us to abandon a broken system.”

The Dean campaign sent ballots to supporters last week seeking their opinion in staging a primary campaign “free and independent of special interests.” During the two-day vote, Dean’s supporters pledged or contributed over $5.3 million with an average contribution or pledge of $116.89. According to information at the candidate’s Web site, of the 104,746 supporters who voted, 85 percent encouraged the candidate to forgo federal matching funds.

Many of Dean’s Democratic primary candidates – including his closest rival, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts – will now be forced to consider whether they should follow the former Vermont governor’s lead. Mark Kornblau, Kerry’s communications director in Manchester, N.H., said Dean was thoroughly committed to abiding by the terms of the taxpayer-financed spending caps until it became clear he would be able to attract significant contributions that already have surpassed $25 million.

“Senator Kerry will keep his options on the table,” Kornblau said, “but now that Dean has had more success fund raising, he’s changed what he once deemed as his ‘principle’ because it’s more politically expedient. The troubling thing about this is that it’s really another example of Howard Dean’s politics-as-usual. He says he’s a straight talker – but he flips and he flops.”

More information on the candidate’s positions and background may be obtained on the Internet at http://www.deanforamerica.com.