US Billionaires Bankroll Anti-bush Ads

Two of the world's richest men have pledged up to $5m for an anti-George Bush advertising campaign in an effort to oust the US president in next year's presidential election.

The international financier George Soros and Peter Lewis, chairman of the US motor insurance firm Progressive Corp, are prepared to spend £3m between them on television ads criticising the president.

They have pledged to donate 50 cents for every $1 raised for a planned $10m campaign being put together by the online activists Moveon.org.

The organisation, which has already begun broadcasting ads in West Virginia, is planning a major anti-Bush campaign focusing on the war in Iraq, the economy and the state of the American education system.

Mr Soros is a known supporter of the Democratic party and already contributes $1m a year to the leftwing think-tank the Center for American Progress and famously gave away nearly $5 bn - £2.9bn - to promote democracy in the former Soviet bloc, Africa and Asia.

He told the Washington Post defeating Mr Bush was "the central focus of my life", adding that the 2004 presidential race was "a matter of life and death".

"America, under Bush, is a danger to the world. And I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is," he said.

New legislation in the US bars political parties from spending large sums of money on advertising to vote out their opponents. Instead, pressure groups such as Moveon.org have stepped in to mobilise voters.

It is the first time Mr Soros has contributed such a large amount to a US campaign - in 2000 he gave $122,000, mostly to Democratic causes and candidates.

But recently Mr Soros has become alarmed at a rise in the influence of what he calls the neo-conservatives, whom he claims are exploiting the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US to promote an agenda of pre-emptive war.

"Bush feels that on September 11 he was anointed by God," Soros said. "Rather than defeating terrorism, he's leading the US and the world toward a vicious circle of escalating violence."