Clinton loaned $6.4 million to campaign last month John Byrne

Published: Wednesday May 7, 2008



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Print This Email This Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) loaned $6.4 million to her presidential campaign last month, according to her campaign. Clinton's communications director Howard Wolfson told MSNBC that she's "invested" in the race and may funnel more of her own money into the campaign down the road. "She certainly doesn't rule it out," Wolfson remarked. An adviser also told Wednesday's New York Times that her campaign was "essentially broke." According to AP, "That brings to $11.4 million the amount of personal funds Clinton has put toward her campaign to date, though aides said donors had subsequently chipped in to cover the $5 million loan she made herself earlier this year. Barack Obama's fund-raising advantage left Clinton with little choice but to give herself money. The $6.4 million is likely to have helped her fund a rush of TV ads in Indiana and North Carolina in the closing days before yesterday's primaries." "Clinton advisers acknowledged that the results of the primaries were far less than they had hoped, and said they were likely to face new pleas even from some of their own supporters for her to quit the race," the Times reported. "They said they expected fund-raising to become even harder; one adviser said the campaign was essentially broke, and several others refused to say whether Mrs. Clinton had lent the campaign money from her personal account to keep it afloat." "The advisers said they were dispirited over the loss in North Carolina, after her campaign  now working off a shoestring budget as spending outpaces fund-raising  decided to allocate millions of dollars and full days of the candidate and her husband in the state. Even with her investment, Mr. Obama outspent Mrs. Clinton in both states." Strategist says only winners are cable news shows Democratic strategist Tim McKay from On Point Communications in Raleigh, NC told RAW STORY : "I've said all along that Hillary isn't going to give up and if the only source of money is hers than she'll keep on fighting. We've all seen their tax returns, they aren't hurting as much as the middle class is." "I don't know what it accomplishes to continue fighting a battle that is unwinnable," McKay added, "but that doesn't seem to be what it's about for her. She'll keep going as long as she can and...unless the superdelegates take a position. What will turn the tide is the superdelegates. It looks more and more like the Clintons are looking toward Michigan and Florida and if everything else stays the same, she'll keep slamming her foot in the door and looking to pry loose the delegates. It's up to the superdelegates who are uncommitted [to commit] and end this thing." McKay went on to say that the big winners in keeping this race alive are the cable news shows. "Their ratings have soared and they don't want them to go down," he said. "The superdelegates can end this. They have to begin to take a position that Obama is the right candidate, no matter how much money she puts into her campaign."