US Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry is considering delaying his formal acceptance of the Democrat Party's nomination so that he can keep spending the millions of dollars that he raised during the primaries, local media reports said Friday.

The Democratic Party would stick to its schedule to hold the national convention in Boston from July 26 to 29, but Kerry was pondering to delay acceptance of the nomination for a month, according to the reports.

Such a delay would eliminate a timing advantage for President George W. Bush, who would be able to spend freely for five more weeks than Kerry since the Republican National Convention will be held in New York from Aug. 30 to Sept. 2.

Under US election law, both Bush and Kerry will be limited to federal funding of about 75 million dollars each after they accept the nominations respectively. Before that they can raise or spend private contributions.

Bush has set election records in both fund raising and spending. The Republican incumbent has raised more than 200 million dollars and spent nearly 130 million dollars, starting May with 72 million on hand, his campaign said Thursday.

Kerry also set a record for a non-incumbent by raising a total of 115 million dollars, breaking Bush's record of 100 million dollars in 2000. The Kerry campaign said it had over 28 million dollars on entering May.

Kerry's campaign issued a statement saying no decision has been made on the possible delay of Kerry's acceptance of nomination. "There are many options to consider," the statement said, noting that the Bush campaign "strategically selected the latest convention in American political history."

The Republican National Convention was timed "in order to stack the deck against Democrats who would be forced to survive on public money for five additional weeks while the GOP continued to spend their special interest warchest," the statement said.

In response, the Bush campaign said in a statement: "Only John Kerry could be for a nominating convention, and be against the nomination. This is just the latest example of John Kerry's belief that the rules are for other people, not for him."

Source: Xinhua