Comments on: Hillary’s Debt

By: PD Shaw

PD Shaw — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 19:44:02 +0000

But James, it's the spouse's money here, not the candidate's money, right? There's probably a sexist, and increasingly dated, joke about when is it "our money" and when is it "her money."

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 18:26:08 +0000

I don't know the details, but there are limits on the amount of personal money one can put into a campaign. Soemthing about rich people "buying electoral office." I think you will find she/Bill have put as much in as is legally permissable.

That's true for OTHER PEOPLE's campaigns, not your own. A Mike Bloomberg or Jon Corzine can spend unlimited amounts to get themselves elected.

By: Bill H

Bill H — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 18:01:07 +0000

I don't know the details, but there are limits on the amount of personal money one can put into a campaign. Soemthing about rich people "buying electoral office." I think you will find she/Bill have put as much in as is legally permissable.

By: PD Shaw

PD Shaw — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:22:52 +0000

I admit I don't know much about the campaign finance laws, but isn't there a set limit that a person (including Bill) can donate to a campaign? I seem to recall that Hillary, McCain and Kerry all treated spousal assets as separate (probably for multiple reasons).

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:19:57 +0000

Not that those prizes sound that great to me - meals with Carville or Clinton, or a ticket to the American Idol finale? No thanks.

Agreed. Now if the auctioned off the chance to kick Bill in the groin during the American Idol finale, they could probably pay everything off and then some. I'm sure Hillary wouldn't mind.

By: Brett

Brett — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:11:17 +0000

They probably will end up paying off the rest of their debt, but why not get a free-ride off your supporters if you can?

Not that those prizes sound that great to me - meals with Carville or Clinton, or a ticket to the American Idol finale? No thanks.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:00:01 +0000

2) 1/25 of two years worth of income is about equal to one month's income, as far as I can tell. So this means that Ezra occasionally spends a month's pay on a dinner? He's either incredibly wasteful on dinners, or exceptionally inattentive to the accuracy of what he writes.

That jumped out at me too. Presumably he is thinking of 1/25 of his weekly or monthly income, thinking that 1/25 of X is the same as 1/25 of Y.

By: MAS1916

MAS1916 — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:57:17 +0000

She should just ask for a federal bail out.

After standing up for months 'defending her right to free speech,' doesn't Hillary deserve to be repaid at taxpayer expense?

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:38:02 +0000

It's even worse when you consider that she rang up most of the debt after her campaign was effectively over.

By: Bithead

Bithead — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:33:26 +0000

And we wonder why the federal bdget is in such trouble? Apparently they use the same logic for our accounts as they do for their election accounts.

By: Boyd

Boyd — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:52:19 +0000

No Clinton supporter here, but Ezra's kinda missing the numbers here: 1) The Clinton campaign owes Mark Penn roughtly 1/25 of the former President's income over a two-year period. I'm pretty sure the campaign debt is much bigger than $2.3 million. 2) 1/25 of two years worth of income is about equal to one month's income, as far as I can tell. So this means that Ezra occasionally spends a month's pay on a dinner? He's either incredibly wasteful on dinners, or exceptionally inattentive to the accuracy of what he writes.