From my years of watching The West Wing I knew about the campaign finance provision that allows candidates to loan personal funds to their campaigns. What I didn't know, however, was that there was a time limit for by when the candidate can recoup those loans by raising money as a candidate. That time limit is their party's nomination. With the August democratic convention nearing, Clinton has only a few months reaming to come-up with a whopping $11 million that she has loaned to her campaign!
Why is this interesting? Well, on the surface it's interesting to hear the kinds of sums of money that are involved - even as a personal loan from a candidate. The real news, however, is what this may mean for the democratic race for the nomination. Depending on how significant $11 million is to the Clintons, Mrs. Clinton may be tempted to back-out of the race and back Mr. Obama in exchange for some financial support. This, of course, would end the inter-party bickering and allow Mr. Obama to finally set his sights on the White House. Of course, having earned over $100 million since the start of this decade, the Clinton's aren't exactly struggling - even if they do need to walk away from their loan.
The law states that Mr. Obama would not be able to help Mrs. Clinton directly, but there is nothing that prevents him from looking to his record-breaking fundraising base to do so. Of course, with his own need to raise further funds in preparation for the national campaign following the convention, he may hold his own interests in priority to those of his rival.
Money makes the world go around. The same is true for politics. The fact that Mrs. Clinton is having difficulty raising funds and has had to resort to personal loans means that she has lost support among her backers. This, of course, is an indicator of where that support may have gone. With Mr. Obama now leading in both the super delegate race as well as the popular vote, it's not difficult to put one-and-one together.
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