# Can a (national) politician keep unspent campaign funds? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 2, 2008, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-national-politician-keep-unspent-campaign-funds/439842 "2008-03-02T14:44:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2008, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-national-politician-keep-unspent-campaign-funds/439842/1 "2008-03-02T14:44:03Z")
I seem to remember this issue arising some years ago, and I think Congress passed a bill in favor of themselves on this score. If it’s true, Barack could be a little more prudent in his spending and end up, win or lose, with millions of bucks. So might the others, but they don’t compare to the Democratic front runner’s bankroll. BTW this isn’t an Obama smear. I’m one of his ardent supporters. Just curious. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2008, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-national-politician-keep-unspent-campaign-funds/439842/2 "2008-03-02T18:56:19Z")
No, they can’t keep it for themselves. If there is an excess, it must be used to pay any outstanding debts of the campaign, or it can be saved for a future campaign, or donated to somebody else’s campaign, or to charity. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2008, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-national-politician-keep-unspent-campaign-funds/439842/3 "2008-03-02T21:24:58Z")
[QUOTE=friedo] …or donated to somebody else’s campaign… [/QUOTE] No. [Recent thread on the same subject](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=454944). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2008, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-national-politician-keep-unspent-campaign-funds/439842/4 "2008-03-02T22:22:39Z")
**friedo** has it in one. On the flip side, when John Glenn’s presidential campaign folded in 1984, he owed a lot of money to various suppliers (for posters, phones, buttons, air travel, etc.) but the campaign was tapped out. IIRC, the FEC said he couldn’t pay them himself (he’s a wealthy man), or use surplus funds (of which he had many) from his U.S. Senate campaign committee, but had to raise money _expressly_ to satisfy those prior obligations. Needless to say, most donors don’t want to give money to an already-defunct campaign. Many of his suppliers ended up getting only pennies on the dollar - very unfortunate, but not Glenn’s fault. I’m convinced he genuinely wanted to see that everyone got paid, but the FEC’s interpretation of the law was such that he couldn’t. Don’t know how much the campaign finance laws have changed since then. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2008, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-national-politician-keep-unspent-campaign-funds/439842/5 "2008-03-02T22:40:41Z")
I’m a little surprised by the John Glenn thing. In the 60’s. I worked for a small ad agency, and when any pol approached us for campaign work, it was standard procedure to demand payment up front because politicians already had a bad rep for doing doing exactly what Glenn’s campaign did to some supporters who provided services and products. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2008, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-national-politician-keep-unspent-campaign-funds/439842/6 "2008-03-03T13:51:00Z")
[QUOTE=Chez Guevara] No. [Recent thread on the same subject](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=454944). [/QUOTE] Not “no.” Yes, within the limits for campaign contributions that apply to everyone else, Clinton or Obama or whoever may doanate excess campaign funds to other candidates, per your own cite from the linked thread. ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2008, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-national-politician-keep-unspent-campaign-funds/439842/7 "2008-03-03T17:20:06Z")
Many years ago, I was told that one of my neighbors, Harold Stassen, was a perpetual candidate for President, long after he had any realistic chance of being elected. It reminded me of “The Producers”, and I always wondered what financial angles he was exploiting. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2008, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-national-politician-keep-unspent-campaign-funds/439842/8 "2008-03-03T19:26:33Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] Not “no.” Yes, within the limits for campaign contributions that apply to everyone else, Clinton or Obama or whoever may doanate excess campaign funds to other candidates, per your own cite from the linked thread. [/QUOTE] That limit being $2,000. **friedo** states as follows: > [@](#): > > If there is an excess, it must be used to pay any outstanding debts of the campaign, or it can be saved for a future campaign, or donated to somebody else’s campaign, or to charity. As per my cite from the linked thread a candidate’s campaign funds, over and above $2,000, cannot be donated to somebody else’s campaign. I should point out that the OP is talking about ‘millions of bucks’ but nevertheless I beg forgiveness for failing to mention the $2,000 in this thread as well as the other one.