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Clinton Deadline Looms for Recouping $11 Million Personal Loan Jonathan Salant & Timothy Burger / Bloomberg | May 12, 2008 Hillary Clinton may have a financial incentive to remain in the presidential race for a while. And she has Senator John McCain to thank for it. Clinton loaned her struggling campaign $11 million in recent months. A little-known provision of a 2002 campaign- finance law cosponsored by McCain prevents candidates who drop out of the race from raising money after the nominating conventions to repay themselves for personal loans. Should Clinton fail to come up with the funds by the Democratic convention in August, she'll be out the $11 million. If she quits the campaign before then, she may find it hard to get people to keep giving cash just so she can retire her debt. That may ratchet up pressure on Clinton to cut a deal with rival Barack Obama to help her through his supporters. Obama may oblige since he would love to get her out of the race for the nomination so he could focus on the general election. (Article continues below)
``Helping to pay off the debt would certainly be a clear signal of Obama's desire to bring the two candidates together,'' said Anthony Corrado, a professor of government at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Obama, 46, is keeping the door open to the possibility of helping pay her debt, which includes more than $10 million in unpaid bills to vendors and consultants -- including strategist Mark Penn, who remains a flash point of criticism for backing a trade deal she opposed. `On the Team' In the interest of unifying the party, Obama will seek ``a broad-ranging discussion with Senator Clinton about how I could make her feel good about the process and have her on the team,'' he told reporters in Oregon on May 9. Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson said ``there have been no discussions along those lines'' and ``no contemplation of it.'' In the past, victorious candidates have helped their vanquished opponents pay off campaign debts. Supporters of Clinton, 60, aided former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack after he dropped out of the race last year. And McCain's backers gave to Kansas Senator Sam Brownback, a failed Republican contender. There is one sleight-of-hand -- though legal -- tactic Clinton could use to pay off debts to others, though not to herself. Through March 31, she had collected $23 million in donations designated for the general election. CLICK ON THE BANNER TO BUY TERRORSTORM IN |
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