Submitted by Politiko on Mon, 06/09/2008 - 10:14am.
I have no problem with post-election help, again with the proviso that any such money would not have been used for the general.
As to Mr. Carvill, and Govs. Rendell and Corzine et al. helping, that's not how it works. They've already given her all they can. Contributions to pay off her debt have follow the same rules as if she was collecting contributions as she was running, i.e., they are still subject to the $2,300 per person maximum contribution. That's why this is such a serious issue.
Mrs. Clinton's fundraising troubles were, in large part, because she got her friends and friends' friends to give her the maximum donation early, but she then could not go back to the same people because they were done until the general election (she has something like $40 Million in her general election account that she can't use; those same people also maxed out for the general after they could no longer give in the primaries). Sen. Obama, on the other hand, got both large and many small donations and he could return to those small donors time and time again.
Thus, she needs new donors to retire her debt. The party and our nominee cannot afford having new donors, or those who did not max out to her in the primaries, giving her money, when that money could be used to help Sen. Obama win.
The only acceptable solution is for her to wait until after the election to get donations. As Mr. Owens pointed out she can't even get write-offs, otherwise those would be illegal in-kind donations exceeding the maximum contribution. This mess makes me angrier all the time, because a lot of those local businesses really deserve to get paid now, and the only way they can be, without hurting the party and our nominee, is for Sen. Clinton to use her own funds to pay them, because (correct me if I'm wrong) I think candidates don't have a cap for using their own money.
Depending on what happens with this, I might start a website on this topic, Sen. Clinton created this mess by not stopping when she ran out of money, our nominee should now be hurt because of her stubborness, and ability to continue running up her campaign "credit card."
I have no problem with post-election help, again with the proviso that any such money would not have been used for the general.
As to Mr. Carvill, and Govs. Rendell and Corzine et al. helping, that's not how it works. They've already given her all they can. Contributions to pay off her debt have follow the same rules as if she was collecting contributions as she was running, i.e., they are still subject to the $2,300 per person maximum contribution. That's why this is such a serious issue.
Mrs. Clinton's fundraising troubles were, in large part, because she got her friends and friends' friends to give her the maximum donation early, but she then could not go back to the same people because they were done until the general election (she has something like $40 Million in her general election account that she can't use; those same people also maxed out for the general after they could no longer give in the primaries). Sen. Obama, on the other hand, got both large and many small donations and he could return to those small donors time and time again.
Thus, she needs new donors to retire her debt. The party and our nominee cannot afford having new donors, or those who did not max out to her in the primaries, giving her money, when that money could be used to help Sen. Obama win.
The only acceptable solution is for her to wait until after the election to get donations. As Mr. Owens pointed out she can't even get write-offs, otherwise those would be illegal in-kind donations exceeding the maximum contribution. This mess makes me angrier all the time, because a lot of those local businesses really deserve to get paid now, and the only way they can be, without hurting the party and our nominee, is for Sen. Clinton to use her own funds to pay them, because (correct me if I'm wrong) I think candidates don't have a cap for using their own money.
Depending on what happens with this, I might start a website on this topic, Sen. Clinton created this mess by not stopping when she ran out of money, our nominee should now be hurt because of her stubborness, and ability to continue running up her campaign "credit card."