Obviously, the pleas for dollars aren’t working that well for the presumptive second-place finisher:
A campaign aide says Hillary Rodham Clinton loaned herself $6.4 million in the past month.
That makes about $11 million that Hillary has had to put into her own campaign because she doesn’t have enough support to get it elsewhere. Does anyone know how much money Obama has had to loan his campaign to make up for lack of support?
rob!
who in the holy hell would give her campaign money at this point?
anyone who does needs to be tranquilized and tagged so scientists can follow their migrating patterns.
John S.
Yes, and it can be expressed as an equation:
x = the amount ($) that Obama has had to lend himself
y = the chance (%) that Clinton has in winning the nomination
x = y
The Earth-Bound Misfit
Does anyone know how much money Obama has had to loan his campaign to make up for lack of support?
Nothing pops up on a quick Google search, so I’m guessing if he did early on, it was probably minimal. Clinton doesn’t have as much lent as did RoboWillard and his $40+ million, but Romney had a lot more to draw from.
Hope Chelsea wasn’t making any plans for that $11.6 million portion of her inheritance….
Louise
The Great Orange Satan has a point when he says that Clinton staying in through WV and KY keeps Obama from losing those states to no one…and I’m not going to weep about Hillary going into greater debt, since she and her campaign created the problem.
I can live with two weeks in which (a) the stupid useless media repeatedly acknowledges that this contest is over; and (b) Hillary stops with the attacks.
I’m just gleeful over that IN result and I don’t feel like being depressed yet.
EdTheRed
This is EXCELLENT NEWS!!!11! FOR HILLARY!!11!ONE!!
johninpt
Is it too much to hope for that the Clintons end up politically AND financially bankrupt from this vicious campaign? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!
Svensker
There’s a lot of to-be-expected schadenfreude on the Obama side, and anger/denial on the Hillary side. Obviously, it will take a while for everyone to work through the high or the low from last night.
But the sooner we get past gloating on the one hand, and bitterness on the other, the sooner we can be just one Big Democratic Party fixin’ to stomp McCain and the rest of the Repubs.
Being a gracious winner is just as important as not being a sore loser if you’re looking for reconciliation, which I hope we are.
Hey, I’m a DFH. Come on, people, now, smile on your brother….
Jake
McGovern calls for her to bow out:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/05/ap_news_alert_50.php
This could get ugly. I’m probably going to get zero work done today. Good thing I’m an elitist.
Doug H. (Fausto no more)
Greg Sargent on the latest from Hillary’s chief strategist:
Oi.
Wilfred
That’s all that’s at stake now. An Obama presidency means the end of Clinton et al. power and influence in the Democratic Party, as it should. All the privileges that go with power will flow from a new source leaving the Clinton supporters on the outside looking in.
Obama should purge all the Clintonists from the Party once and for all. And any nonsense about Clinton as majority leader should be shot down right now. Obama is entitled to his own people, not has-beens looking for a sympathy fuck.
Doug H. (Fausto no more)
Could you remind David Plouffe of that?
TheFountainHead
I went dumpster diving over at Hillaryis44.com and came up with some steaming piles…
And this is my favorite…
John, when I start e-mailing you…i dunno….anything, about Obama’s candidacy, ban my IP, okay?
Zifnab
Keep dreaming. Hillary lost the Presidential fight, but she’s still a ranking Senator with hands on all sorts of power levers in American Politics. They were writing off Nixon about this time in 1960 and he was back with a vengeance in ’68. Hillary might be a little old for a second White House run, but tell that to John McPain. She’s not going anywhere. If anything, she might make a play for the DNC like Howard Dean did after ’04. Or she’ll take over Majority Leader from Reid. Or she’ll move into the burnt husk of the DLC and start to rebuild. Or something.
Kennedy didn’t go away after 1980. Al Gore didn’t go away after 2000. Kerry didn’t go away after ’04. Hillary is going to be a proud institution in the Dem party for years to come.
4tehlulz
What kind of sensitive information do they have? That Obama is black or something?
cleek
oh noes! obarmo got eated alilve! we telld you sew!
A.Political
4tehlulz Says:
What kind of sensitive information do they have? That Obama is black or something?
May 7th, 2008 at 10:56 am
—-
No, they KNOW what kind of counter-tops he has….cue ominous music.
Wilfred
There are no second acts in American lives. If Obama is elected President, he’d be a fool to let her have any position of power beyond that of any other junior Senator, and that includes majority leader.
When you shoot at a king, or queen, don’t miss. Obama didn’t. If he’s to be secure in his Presidency the Clintons have to go. There’s an old story about the end of the English Civil War. One of the Restoration judges was implored to show a little mercy to the now defeated rebels, to pay heed to the need for unity and compassion. The judge said there’s be more than enough forgiveness, mercy and unity…but first there’d be a bit of hanging.
Obama can’t govern worrying about the Clintons planting a shiv in his back. The and their supporters have to go.
Shygetz
Al Gore did go away (politically, at least) after 2000. And I wish he’d come back.
Gore for VP!
Cris
I don’t know. I think Zifnab’s first three examples (Nixon, Kennedy, Gore) are pretty good counterexamples to your assertion. Especially Gore, whose Nobel laureate, outspoken persona rose out of the ashes of the centrist Gorebot.
Oh yeah, and George Foreman.
Besides, for all the disdain I have felt for the Clintons since I first heard their names 16 years ago, I don’t want to see them and their DLC disappear altogether, I just want their influence over the party at large to wane.
The Moar You Know
Save for Lincoln, Taft, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Reagan and probably at least 9000 other examples I could give if I weren’t at work; America does second acts in politics better than any other nation in the world.
Hillary isn’t going anywhere, and she’s likely going to consolidate quite a bit of power in the Senate until the next go-round. If Obama really feels compelled to politically neutralize the Clintons, he should put them – both of them – on the Supreme Court.
The Grand Panjandrum
If she stays in the race, stops with the stupid attacks and pandering, she’ll build up some new cred and save Bill’s legacy among Democrats. All will be forgiven. She could work with a more solid Democratic majority in the Senate to move healthcare legislation, strip the FISA act of its more heinous provisions, and be active in making sure we bring home our troops. Her speech last night had that “concession” speech tone and you could see it written all over the faces of Chelsea and Bill. They know its over, and now they have an opportunity to exit gracefully. She can drop out two weeks from now and save a lot of face for herself.
She’ll do the right thing and Obama is giving her plenty of space to do it. Patience my Balloon Juice comrades. Patience.
Wilfred
John Kerry, Adlai Stevenson, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, and now Bill and Hillary Clinton.
For all her vaunted political acumen, cunning and POWER, Hillary Clinton is what she is: a fucking loser.
Running for President her entire life, 8 years First Lady of a popular President, complete control of the Party apparatus and name recognition beyond belief, a compliant press that pulled out all the stops to derail Obama – remember Michelle’s transgressions, plagiarism gate?, and the final degradation of pandering to the Bush vote, and she still lost to a first term Senator with a fraction of the institutional support she enjoyed and squandered.
She’s a joke. Obama owes neither her nor first race-baiter anything, and he’d do the country and his Party a favor by treating them with the disdain they deserve. They should leave town with Bush.
w vincentz
Consider…
If the deal for her dropping out (to unify) involves seating the dels from MI and FL, ok. If it includes the Obama campaign picking up her debt, there will be plenty of people that gave the best they could to the Obama campaign and they’ll be plenty pissed seeing their hard earned and well intentioned contributions going to same (Hillshit bailout).
The Moar You Know
Wilfred, I understand some of your anger towards them but they aren’t going anywhere.
I’ll point out that my biggest objection to Hillary was that she’d get slaughtered in the general; during the same decades you refer to, she consistently drew some of the largest negative polling numbers of any public figure. Her victory in the general I thought was impossible; even winning the primary I thought was shaky. Turns out I was right about that. She was not as strong a candidate as you make her out to be.
Scorched-earth vengeance in politics is usually a bad idea. Obama knows this, and although I don’t think you’ll see him bending over to do her any favors, he’s not going to ride her and Bill out of town on a rail. And when you get right down to it, there’s no mechanism for him to do so even if he so desired.
4tehlulz
As an Obama contributor, I could deal with that if it means turning our attention to the general.
greynoldsct00
They’ve already demonstrated they are morally bankrupt, why not go for a trifecta…
gypsy howell
If only we’d done that to Nixon after Watergate, and Reagan and his merry band of criminals after Iran-Contra, what a better country this would be today.
Instead, we got Nixon-Reagan 2.0 with the entire Bush Crime Syndicate.
Sad what could have been……
chopper
yeah, cause if there’s any constitutency in the democratic party that’s been taken for granted, it’s whites. not blacks. nosiree, not at all.
jesus that’s just kooky.
Dan
That’s from 10 minutes ago on Taylormarsh. Ay yi yi.
w vincentz
4the,
Quite magnamimous of you to think that way. I also favor unity and reconciliation as that’s the only way to victory in the general. That said, a bailout of Hillshit’s debt will leave a bad taste in some contributors to Barack’s effort. Their dollars weren’t expected to go towards this.
Wilfred
That’s one reason I’m not in politics. Still, Obama has to be his own President and that means Hillary as junior Senator from New York, nothing more. The emergent meme of ‘Clinton for majority leader’ is a pity vote – pity or anger the two emotions most provoked by narcissists.
She hasn’t quit yet, something I attribute to her failed negotiations with Obama. She’s angling for something and he won’t give it to her – the correct play on his part, imo.
Patrik
When a candidate self-finances their own campaign, you can bet three things:
1. They want it a little too much.
2. They believe their poop smells like petunias.
3. They have made a bad investment.
Napoleon
I would think he would do it as a special fund raiser, perhaps raising the money from BOs big donors.
4tehlulz
>>Quite magnamimous of you to think that way.
lol no. More like I want an annoying obstacle removed as soon as possible. I suspect she’s going to stay to raise money to pay off that huge ass debt she’s running, so an offer to pay off her debt if she GTFO of the nomination process seems reasonable; otherwise I couldn’t care less about HRC’s money woes.
w vincentz
Napoleon,
Maybe. I’m just very happy to see this played out and resolved. The sooner the better…and not leaving some bitter.
mrmobi
Wow, Wilfred, that’s harsh, don’t you think?
Campaign hyperbole aside, Hillary has been an excellent Senator for New York, and was quite effective in getting elected, despite the “carpetbagger” meme she was tagged with, which just doesn’t work when you go to every fucking county in the state to make your case. New Yorkers liked what they saw. Hardly seems like a loser to me.
Also, last time I checked, Hillary was part of an administration that presided over the biggest peacetime economic expansion in our history. She might have just been First Lady, but the Clintons are a team, any way you cut it, so some serious credit is due her. We don’t need to “punish” Hillary, I’m sure the exhaustion of the campaign itself and the crushing debt will do nicely.
However, Wilfred, you are beginning to sound like someone over at Talk Left, a place I only go to now if I feel the need to study serious craziness.
Assuming Hillary concedes and works hard in support of Obama, I think she could pick whatever job she wanted. For one thing, she’d probably be a damn sight better Majority Leader than Harry Reid. Or how about Governor of New York? My personal favorite from this thread is Obama appointing both Hillary and Bill to SCOTUS. You’d be able to hear the knuckle-dragger heads exploding all over the country! (It sounds like wet bubble-wrap).
As an aside, can anyone tell me why CNN would have the extreme right version of Mr. Creosote, Bill Bennett, on to discuss a Democratic Primary Election? WTF!
I’ve disagreed strongly with Hillary’s methods during the campaign, but she isn’t the only reason this election has been so hotly, and sometimes unfairly, contested. There have been plenty of bad actors in the media as well as the Party of Torture, and both Hillary and Obama have been subjected to racist and sexist attacks, though not, by and large, from each other.
What Bill Clinton said about Jessie Jackson winning South Carolina was not racist. Bill Clinton does not have a racist bone in his body. He’s trying to help get Hillary the nomination. And he has gas bag tendencies.
But that’s just me, I’m one Democrat who is delighted that we’ve finally decided on our historic candidate, and he will reveal the husk of a human being formerly known as John McCain to be just that, an empty shell, possessing no political acumen, and having no policies, other than tax-cuts for the very rich and support for torture.
I think TZ is spot-on about this election, it’s going to be an historic blowout for Dems.
mrmobi
I’ve got to say this unreasoning hatred of Hillary is really fucking stupid and counterproductive. It sounds misogynist to me, really.
Do any of you here think it’s a good idea to demean Hillary just because you can? Do you think it will endear her supporters to close ranks with us when Obama is the nominee, because it fucking won’t. Love her or hate her, Obama is going to need her supporters to win in November.
By the way, the money you gave to the Obama campaign isn’t yours anymore. That’s how that works, you give money, and you don’t have it anymore. That’s why it’s called a contribution. He can do what he wants with it, as long as he doesn’t break campaign finance laws.
The only bad taste I have is having to read terms like “Hillshit.” So please, shut the fuck up!
Hypatia
You seem like a very nice fellow, Wilfred. Knowledgeable, too. Adlai Stevenson, a candidate to whom Obama has been regularly compared, was a successful Governor of Illinois and a very strong Presidential candidate running in unfavorable historical circumstances. Carter won the presidency. Kerry, like him or not, has been a successful Senator and whatever his failings in his Presidential run it is not easy to win an election against a sitting President in wartime. Bill Clinton, as I recall, won quite a few elections in his day with assists (“two for one”) from his wife and might very well have won a third term had that been possible. Hillary Clinton has won two elections as Senator in New York.
I’m just sort of ignoring the Gerald Ford thing.
Shygetz
By the way, the money you gave to the Obama campaign isn’t yours anymore. That’s how that works, you give money, and you don’t have it anymore. That’s why it’s called a contribution. He can do what he wants with it, as long as he doesn’t break campaign finance laws.
Yes, and I can choose not to send him any more if he starts doing things with it that I don’t like. Seriously, it shouldn’t be necessary to spell things out so explicitly. If Obama uses our donations to bail out Hillary’s campaign, I will be upset about it.
Jimmy Crack Corn
With the amount of $$ Obama has been raising, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the U.S. Government ask him for a loan.
KXB
“When you shoot at a king, or queen, don’t miss. ”
Sounds like someone admires Omar from “The Wire”, as one of his best lines was, “You come at the King, you best not miss.”
OriGuy
I like the idea of Hillary as Senate Majority Leader; it plays to her strengths. I wouldn’t mind seeing her or Bill on the SCOTUS, though Bill has that little issue with losing his license to practice. Rather see Edwards there, though. Maybe Bill as Sec of State.
Wolfdaughter
I would like to add my vote to those counseling conciliation, which seems to be Obama’s inclination anyway. Welcome all Democrats to the tent, including those who worked against Obama, and “trust but verify”. If Obama summarily tries to cast the Clintons out, 1) he won’t succeed and 2) he will look like an extremely ungracious winner grabbing all the spoils. We need the Clinton supporters, folks. Moreover, we Democrats have a history of very partisan primary contests, with smears and insults flowing freely, but of pulling together and supporting the eventual nominee.
What Obama will likely (and hopefully) do, is to be gracious and welcome all support. Then if someone does stab him in the back, and this can be proven, he will have ample justification for jettisoning that person.
pendragon
I’m running for President of the United States. There will be a campaign rally at six o’clock this evening. It will be in my garage. Grape Koolaid and vienna sausages will be served. I can’t afford the good stuff like Hillary so Thunderbird wine will be the beverage of choice. Along with tap water. If there is anyone stupid enough to lend me six million for a hopeless cause, please feel free to stop by.