UPDATE: Clinton Campaign Has $20 Million Of Debt, LA Times Makes Correction

UPDATE 11:13 pm EST: The LA Times mistakenly reported Clinton's campaign was in $31 million of debt. Below is the correction and the real debt number of $20 million:

(*UPDATE: Due to a mathematical error, Hillary Clinton's loans to herself were added twice in the calculation of this item. Her total debts are about $20 million, not $31 million. A corrected item covering the first five paragraphs of this one has been published here.)

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EARLIER ITEM FROM THIS MORNING:
The LA Times is reporting that Hillary Clinton is nearly $31 million in debt. The news comes off a release from her campaign Tuesday night that she has raised $22 million:

No wonder Sen. Hillary Clinton was so late filing her required campaign financial reports Tuesday night. Her political team didn't want the shocking news in it to overshadow her lopsided thumping of Sen. Barack Obama in Kentucky.

Now comes the morning after, pay-up time. Clinton's campaign debt has now soared to nearly $31 million, according to numbers crunched early this morning by The Times' campaign finance guru, Dan Morain.

Comments

[hbw3]

Again, why are Obama supporters the only ones trying to stop Clinton from going broke?

Please help her keep what's left of her $109 million, she shouldn't loan herself more. We already know subprime lending is a bad thing.

Oh the humanity!

[Scarllatti]

If she wants to borrow from me at 35% interest rate, I will be very obliged to loan her some money. HRC has failed in all indices of managing a country and funds, I am so scared at the prospect of giving the "National Purse" to this woman who cannot manage a simple campaign outfit.
If you cannot manage a couple of millions donated to you by folks, how can you manage the American economy. HRC is ALL TALK AN NO SUBSTANCE. The taste of the pudding is in its eating. Hillary's pudding stinks.

[geobushono]

You have nailed it........­...can you imagine the damage to the Democratic Party if we HAD to Impeach her at some point?

[rpd123]

Enough already. After all, this is only theoretical money -- kind of like Monoply money. (Besides, no one ordered supporters to send money to HRC. It was their decision -- their problem.) Not Sen. Clinton's. And, come to think of it, this entire delegate count business is theoretical.

When you include the Popular Vote in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the Philippines-- and exlude the states that don't really count in the electoral map scheme of things -- she is ahead.

So there!

[RoSull]

Come again? Theoretical?

[rpd123]

I was doing a Howard Wolfson. Just trying to get inside the Clinton camp's tortured logic has given me a migraine.

[lecraftygirl]

i'm sure that's hillary's train of thought. hilarious! good job.

[LazarusLong]

Theoretical?!

No, this is real money and a real election cycle.

Add three territories and subtract a few states. Yeah, that makes sense.

[lecraftygirl]

i think rpd123 was being sarcastic. lol.

[hbw3]

LOL!

[maureendowdisatotalbabe]

"and exlude the states that don't really count in the electoral map scheme of things"

right, like puerto rico, the virgin islands and the phillipine­s...

gotcha ;)

[Scarllatti]

I wish she gets buried in her debts. Maybe sleek Willy has to go give a couple of "speeches" to his foreign agents to write off her debts. She is playing 'Harakiri" with her supporters. Instead of mouthing Obama and his millions of supporters, HRC's supporters should put their money where their mouth is. In case her supporters have not heard, HRC IS IN DEBT UP TO HER EYEBALLS!!!

[ccmd]

http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/Barack_Obama_Getting_Closer

[loria]

That is great!

[JadedAggie]

I think the important thing now is to note who her finance chairs are and to keep them as far away from the Barack Obama General Election Campaign as possible.

[Independent voter]

Does it matter if you're the Lord of the Flis if the flies won't buy your lunch? Seems to show a lack of committment on the part of the flies.

[larson90]

Where are all the Hillary supporters? I can't find a single comment from one on this.

[wolfi101]

I think, they're off wondering what their contributions have gone for.

[ Seriously, on this point, I do really feel sorry for them. ]

[lecraftygirl]

i just wrote the same thing. i only hear crickets..­.

[naschkatze]

The full LA Times article says $9.5 million of that debt is owed to unpaid vendors. This is disgraceful that the party lets this go on. She is sooooooo on the side of the working class, and she is screwing them left and right. And not only that but we have to treat her and her supporters now with kid gloves all the time when she really needs to be raked over the coals.

[obamanation31]

Barack Obama is 68mil ahead of her.

[grinreaper]

its not gona help him when all the truth bout him
that his newsmedia friends beenh holdin back
comes out in the fall
and pres elect MCCain crushes him in nov

[LazarusLong]

and what "truth" would that be?

[bygollymissmolly]

Troll alert. Cleanup on aisle 7.

[conscioushope]

....."Don'­t cry for me, Argentina.­......."

[lmrgreen]

This is unconscionable on the part of Clinton. To continue to ask for donations when she is this far in debt just shows her true colors. If she really cared about the "hard working white people" she'd bow out now instead of continuing to ask that they donate their hard earned money to her campaign.

This woman thinks she can run a country? She can't even run her campaign.

It's time for the rest of the super delegates to step in and cast their vote for Obama so this thing ends. I was in favor of letting this play out until the last primary, but now how can we? What will be the final tally if she is allowed to continue? $50, $60, $100 million? And who is supposed to pay this back? Not Obama at this point and the DNC should not be saddled with it either. Any other candidate would have had the decency and sense to withdraw before they ran up this kind of debt!

[RoSull]

IN 100% agreement, but where is the chorus of democrats or even Howard Dean this morning. No where to be found. Or why are there reports of anyone telling Hillary to reign it in because she os going over board with this debt.

Someone has already said this, and I second it, I want a listing of all of the people she owes this money to.

[ByersL]

They are all scared of her because she's now encouraging her supporters to sit out November because of the evil sexist Obama. I'm embarrassed that women are keeping this going, how could my gender get it so wrong?

[lecraftygirl]

i agree whole-heartedly. i want to hear from her supporters now. how can they possibly justify her still being in the race? they are all silent. i would be too. those numbers are nothing to be proud of.
but with Obama, that's a different story. with a great campaign he has shown great leadership.
I am proud to say, I am Barack Obama!

[grinreaper]

yea right
obamas been buyin supers for months,if he gets the nom,thats how he did it
http://www.hyscience.com/archives/2008/05/is_obama_buying.php
but newsmedia wont talk bout that..
shhh.. dont talk bad about rev nobama

[loria]

If she really cared about the "hard working white people" she'd bow out now instead of continuing to ask that they donate their hard earned money to her campaign.

AND if she really cared about the hard working people SHE WOULD PAY THEM WHAT SHE OWES THEM. She added another 9.5 million in unpaid vendors last month alone. If there were a reasonable path to the nomination (or even a possible path) then fighting on might be worth it. But racking up debts with these small vendors in unconsciounable when considering that the race today isn't much different than it was before March 5 and won't be any different two weeks from now. I have heard that these campaigns cost a million a day. If that is true, their campaign could leave $50 million in debt by the time this is over. It really is time to stop and start paying back what is owed.

[tbo11]

When asked if a lack of meaningful leadership as an executive, as a manager and leader of people, BO said "watch how I run my campaign."

It has been efficient, transparent, profitable, national, and most importantly, successful.

I can say that HRC's has been almost entirely the opposite, and this 31mm of debt, if true, is just staggering.

[wolfi101]

Yes. The only candidate who seems to know how to run an organization and campaign -- is the one most often labeled "inexperienced".

Give me his inexperience over the others experience any day.

[lecraftygirl]

hear! hear!

[Barky]

Wonder if that 3:00 am phone call (from the bankers) has occurred? One thing I'll say for HC...I didnt know that she had such a gambling problem. It just goes to show how much of a return one gets by becoming President and why the big backers are willing to doubleup (though it seems less are these days).

[skepticalindenver]

How she will translate her losing a campaign in a spectacular manner into some leverage for political gain will be interesting. She took a huge lead in every poll, raised record amounts of cash (only behind Obama), then squandered both the lead and money. In the process dismissing well over 1/2 of the Democrats participating in the primaries as either from an irrellevant state or delusional. Now people are floating by the idea that she deserves VP, Majority Leader, or a SCOTUS nomination. We are witnessing hubris at its worst. Someone please show this woman the door, THAT she deserves.

[Philly4Obama]

This is because she has lots of experience and judgment.

[grinreaper]

35yrs
rev nobama has lots less
both are commies,she just has more miles under her pantsuit

[wolfi101]

Actually, Obama has more ~elected~ experience than she does. He served in the State Senate during the 1990s. Hillary has only held one office ( NY Senator ), while he's held two and for a sum total of more years.

[debwarot]

'rev nobama'??????? Wow! I bet that kind of silly name calling would make you very popular on the grade school playground.