What will people read into Hillary's self-loan?

[MovieMogul]

[url=]Here’s a good take:

Now it seems to me that, logically, one problem with self-financing ought to be that it hurts fundraising. The reminder that the Clintons are multi-millionaires would seem to me to make giving them a modest cash donation of $250 or $500 seem like a less attractive proposition. Does it turn you into an Obama donor? Of course not. But maybe you donate that money to the poor, or to a favorite congressional candidate, or you buy yourself something nice. After all, why would you donate money to someone much richer than yourself? Of course, if Clinton wins you give her money to pay back her loan because you’re looking for favors from the White House. But from where we’re sitting now, but for now, what’s the point?

Of course regular people may not look at it that way. I’ve had more than one person, including people who aren’t necessarily Clinton supporters but who aren’t Clinton-haters either, tell me they will “feel sorry” for Clinton if she loses. From where I sit, a multimillionaire US Senator has an okay life whether or not she gets elected president. But obviously a lot of rank-and-file Democrats feel a deep, personally connection to the Clinton family in a way that transcends the banal reality that the Clintons are much, much better off than the average American.

[Phlosphr]

@Squink

Good lord, the messed up primary season has about everyone taking out loans. McCain had to buy a life insurance policy so he could get his.
If you want to wail on Hillary’s efforts, point to her staff ‘voluntarily’ going without pay this month.
The echo of Guiliani’s failed campaign is nearly deafening here.

I couldn’t get your link to work.

Voluntarily working for free - well if they were volunteers I’d hope they were working for free. If you read under the news, between the lines, the “they” that they are talking about were formerly paid positions working for free now…It’s nice that they say they are working for free, but if they were getting paid by her campaign I doubt they’d turn down the wage.

[Jophiel]

A Clinton missive is circulating now that they’ve received $4mil since the primary and want to hit $6mil by the weekend.

I expect another Obama push on funding. And I have to say that they’d probably get more money if people’s fundraising pages on Obama’s site would stop timing out under the server load.

[Squink]

@Phlosphr

I couldn’t get your link to work.

Dead for me now too.
Here’s a couple different sources:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/02/clinton-cah-woe.html

Opinion: Breaking News: Some senior Clinton staff go unpaid

These are salaried staff.

[Billdo]

@BobLibDem

Unpaid staffers are generally the signs of a campaign in its death throes. I don’t think it’s the case this time but I don’t recall ever when a front runner had this problem.

Actually the last time that this happened last year, when John McCain, now the nominee presumptive with Romney withdrawing, ran out of money, cut his staff, and had some work unpaid. Despite this, he solidered on, and many analysts have stated that running from a position of relative poverty reinvigorated his campaign (no doubt an analysis from strong hindsight).

[jayjay]

@Billdo

Actually the last time that this happened last year, when John McCain, now the nominee presumptive with Romney withdrawing, ran out of money, cut his staff, and had some work unpaid. Despite this, he solidered on, and many analysts have stated that running from a position of relative poverty reinvigorated his campaign (no doubt an analysis from strong hindsight).

Of course, it helped that his opponents were the weakest Republican slate in the last 50 years or so.

[MilTan]

@ArchiveGuy

['s a good take:

You forgot to plug in the URL. I think [url=http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/02/clinton_selffinancing.php]this](]Here[/url) is the link you’re looking for.

[MilTan]

@jayjay

Of course, it helped that his opponents were the weakest Republican slate in the last 50 years or so.

Also, there’s a big difference between someone running out of cash before the first votes are cast (John Kerry had to bail himself out, too, in 2004), and having money problems half-way through the primary season.

[Liberal]

@Duckster

Are you applying your same standard to Mitt Romney as well?

I think his are gifts, but I’d vote for Hillary before I’d vote for Mitt.

[gonzomax]

My read. She has a lot more money than I thought she did.

[MovieMogul]

@MilTan

You forgot to plug in the URL. I think this is the link you’re looking for.

:o Thanks!

[Duckster]

@Liberal

I think his are gifts, but I’d vote for Hillary before I’d vote for Mitt.

You may be correct here.

At the same time, if the only people who “buy” into your campaign include the candidate’s own money (loan or gift) and not PACs, ordinary folks and friends, that says to me there must be something wrong with the candidate. More so, when said candidate has a long and well known public track record.

For me, Hillary is in deep trouble.

[BrainGlutton]

@burundi

When I heard the news, my first thought was “Who the hell has 5 million dollars lying around?” Nice for her that she has the money to do it.

A safe bet WRT to anyone in a position to be a serious presidential candidate in the first place, more’s the pity.

[MilTan]

@BrainGlutton

A safe bet WRT to anyone in a position to be a serious presidential candidate in the first place, more’s the pity.

Although it’s not the case for Obama, whose net worth appears to be less than 2 million. This doesn’t seem to take into account sales of Audacity of Hope, which I’m sure bumped his net worth up a couple of million, though.

[Stranger_On_A_Train]

@Bryan Ekers

I’d’ve thought you’d support the idea of a loan, in that she’ll eventually pay back the $5 mill plus interest in cash, as opposed the the normal politician route of paying it back in favours and government contracts.

“Okay, okay, okay, okay, this is the best part okay? You make a tax deduction on interest payments you don’t even make! Am I an innovator? Am I a genius?” – Leo Getz, Lethal Weapon 2

Did this seriously not go through anybody’s mind?

A fun game is to cast candidates in Catch-22. Hillary Clinton has always struck me as Nurse Cramer for some reason, although she clearly has a Milo Minderbender in the back room somewhere who just bought a whole harvest of Egyptian cotton. McCain is clearly McWatt, and I can categorize most of the others, but I’m damned if I can figure out what to do with Obama. Maybe Huple?

We now return you to your regularly scheduled rant.

Stranger

[Jolly_Roger]

@Liberal

Is it fair to question to ask how she’ll be able to propose the particulars of a multi-trillion dollar budget when she lacks fiscal disciple in her own little camaign? If she spent 5$ million more dollars than she could afford, wasn’t she fiscally reckless? And if she was unable to survive without the additional 5$ million, wasn’t she fiscally naive? Did she have to saturate women with multiply redundant mailings of expensive glossy propaganda? If she can’t live within her means in her personal life, how will she live within our means as a nation when it isn’t even her money?

I’m going to play cabbagehead here and ask…how do you loan yourself money?

I mean, if I want to buy a new TV I don’t go to the bank and borrow some money from my own account…its my freaking money.

[jayjay]

@Jolly Roger

I’m going to play cabbagehead here and ask…how do you loan yourself money?

I mean, if I want to buy a new TV I don’t go to the bank and borrow some money from my own account…its my freaking money.

Hillary’s presidential campaign is a different legal entity than Hillary herself, as far as I understand it.

[Marley23]

@Jolly Roger

I mean, if I want to buy a new TV I don’t go to the bank and borrow some money from my own account…its my freaking money.

Basically, Hillary Clinton gave $5 million to the Hillary Clinton for President Fund. When they say she “gave herself” the money, they mean she lent it to the campaign instead of getting money the normal way- convincing other people to donate it.

[Huerta88]

@stolichnaya

It’s not entirely out of line for her campaign to have budgeted for a contest that would be over on Super Tuesday- at the start of this campaign and even up until a month or so ago that seemed like a reasonably predictable result. They thought they could outspend and carry themselves on an establishment/experience wave while Obama and Edwards split the “change” vote, and lock it up on Feb 5.

Yep. Because of the staggered campaign schedule, cashflow (both incoming and outgoing) can be a bit “lumpy” in its distribution. You make assumptions about where you’ll be at various waypoints, and if you’re a bit off in your assumptions regarding when you’ll get the next big jolt of contributions (because your last primary triumph did not energize the grassroots quite as much as hoped), or when you’ll need a bigger than expected television buy, you need a bridge loan. Many very profitable small to medium size businesses use bridge loans, revolving lines of credit, esp. when their businesses are seasonal or cyclical.

Campaigns can’t borrow from banks so . . . it’s nice to be rich.

[jayjay]

@Marley23

Basically, Hillary Clinton gave $5 million to the Hillary Clinton for President Fund. When they say she “gave herself” the money, they mean she lent it to the campaign instead of getting money the normal way- convincing other people to donate it.

And there are probably legal reasons it’s being called a “loan”, for that matter. I can’t imagine why a presidential candidate with $5 million dollars to blow would cavil on whether or not she gets it back if it helps her to the White House.