Obama has a fire to put out regarding the paying of Hillary's debts rumors

Over the past day or so there have been many stories raising the possibility that Hillary is looking to make a deal with the Obama Campaign for Obama to pay off her campaign debts in return for Hillary dropping her campaign.

I believe the Obama Campaign has to quickly and decisively squash this rumor like a bug or risk the possibility that donations to Obama may dry up overnight.

Yesterday I received at least two emails from the Obama campaign looking for additional donations. I have given to them in the past when I can but yesterday I hesitated and have not acted on their mail because I want this question answered first. I'll be damned if I give them another dime if my money is going to be used to pay off the Clinton debts and I am fairly certain that most other Obama supporters feel the same way.

So if there are any Obama Campaign workers looking in here (and I think there usually are several), get on this please! When I hear a statement or email from the campaign confirming that it will not under any circumstances use our donations to pay the Clinton debts there will be another donation from me, but not until that is made absolutely clear.

If they make a deal that gets special donors to do the job or uses funds other than donations and it makes the Clintons go away quietly that's fine. But using the money donated by the grassroots donors, many of whom are sacrificing to send even small donations, would be very, very wrong.

All he has to do is wait till the campaign runs out of steam.

...because apparently I'm not the only one that doesn't want my donations to Obama going to pay off Hillary's debts.

Let her own supporters pay off her debts.

He didn't force her to continue her campaign,
he didn't wrack up debts in her name?
this is ridiculous.

And my daughter is with you: she campaigned heavily and donated generously to Obama,
and if donations are used for Hillary's debts, his internet giving
will dry up.

I'd do it in a heartbeat.

That's why I mentioned a special fund for those who want to contribute.

But as far as I am concerned, if any money is used from the millions of donors who expect their money to help the Obama campaign without their prior knowledge that it would be used to pay someone else's campaign debts, it would be very wrong.

it will stop small donors from making the sacrifices to fund a positive campaign in the future.

else should be responsible for her debt. no one else gets that kind of help and what does it say about the 'woman' candidate if someone has to step in like a daddy and pay her bills? :sarcasm: Since the hillary folks are so invested in sexism, I can't imagine how they would agree to her being 'rescued'. Besides, she's a gazillionaire. Bill can go give five speeched and they are healed. Not so us.

as far as her own loans to her campaign- NO. not just no, but HELL NO. but to pay off the vendors and npo, yes. IF she goes home now.

all that said, tho, these rumors are the natural progeny of the suspicion that she is dragging it out to pay off her debts. i don't think she can do anything but dig a deeper hole.
this kind of deal is common. there is no actual reason to believe that the rumor has any basis in fact.

acted with dignity throughout, I might feel differently. But she does not deserve a bailout. She can pay the debt for her horribly mismanaged, morally bankrupt campaign from her own pocket.

Obama will never let on if that kind of deal is made and it is a possibility. This is, after all, politics and it is not always what we want it to be.

Obama ain't that dumb.

Get over it already. Politics is ugly and all politicians are in this for power. People are deluding themselves if they think they are in this game to "help the American people", etc. Once they get to Washington, it is the same old crap. They throw us little tidbits so they can get re-elected. Just look at the Dems that were swept into office in November of 2006. Yeah. Nancy Pelosi and company are really living up to their promises. I am sure our troops are so relieved to see the light at the end of the tunnel and they will finally be able to come home for good. Not. Obama supporters are expecting way too much and we are all going to be sorely disappointed. I hope he can get some stuff done and we will all fight with him to achieve our goals. But he is a politician, not a miracle worker.

Any large transfer of funds from his campaign coffers
to hers would be visible via the required paperwork
filings.

And it's not unheard of, of course. Sometimes it's
even smart politics. In exchange for an endorsement,
didn't the Dean campaign retire the debts associated
with Carol Mosley Braun's failed 2004 presidential
campaign?

Tesha

Oh, wait.... :D

As someone who has donated to his campaign, if paying off her outstanding debts meant her droping out of the race this week, I'd happily support that.

Let the Clintons write books or give lectures to pay off their debts. I will not consent to doing it with my dime.

continue to damage her reputation if she wants. This is nothing short of blackmail, if this is what she is holding out for.

if they believe their hard earned $ are used to pay off the likes of Mark Penn and other unscrupulous endeavors of the Clinton Campaign.

It seems clear that helping pay off an opponents debts as part of the price of unity has been done in the past. Yet I have seen posts on the Obama blog or DU where people have said it is illegal.

I heard Tim Russert the other night talking about helping pay off Hillary's debt if she gets out of the race.

So we need answers. There are contributions to Obama being held back right now from some who are concerned. I can see this being a problem.

Primary debts, according to campaign laws, must be paid from primary contributions and cannot be paid from donations for the general election. So, to pay the debts now Clinton has to keep her campaign active to receive any "donations" from anyone, including other campaigns. If she shuts down her campaign she can no longer accept donations to pay off those debts and must do it from her own money.

So I want this question answered before I donate any further to Obama. You know, I have never donated to a primary campaign before this year so donating now is unusual for me to begin with and I think for many others. If I am going to sacrifice it will be for the purpose of furthering the principles of the candidates I support, not to ease the personal pain of his opponent who wants to recoup loans to her campaign to add back to the millions she already has.

And I donate, so yes, I'm talking about my money too.

or 40-50 million to beat her, its all the same.

donations. You are not acting rational. Piece of advice. This is a rumor.

You can't cross a bridge until you come to it. You have not even come to the bridge that you are now trying to cross. You have no real reason to believe this will happen, and yet you act as if it were.

In other words, your being irrational.

The money she loaned her campaign from her personal funds. That doesn't seem fair. I can understand how he would use the rest of the funds that have been allocated to his primary campaign fund to pay her debt to the vendors who are still owed money from a long time ago since the primary would be over anyway. That part of it is reasonable to me. But I think Mark Penn should cut his losses for doing a terrible job-he has made enough to pay him for the job he did already, IMO. If Obama paid him, it's like he would be paying for the unfair attacks that were made on him. At least it feels like that.

pay us or else.

just another hyped up imaginary story to get outraged at Clinton about.

I'm a little hazy on campaign financing rules, but aren't their limits on what anyone -- individual or organization -- can give to a candidate? Can another candidate exceed those rules? Would the Obama campaign as an organization be restricted to the same limits put on other organizations?

And Bill paid off his opponents debts in 1992.

It is actually standard practice.

The only thing is the overwhelming size of them and the vast amoutn she loaned her own campaign.

Obama might agree to retire the debts to all the printers, schools, bakeries, etc. that Clinton owes money to and refuse to reitre her loans, which came out of her own pocket.

who are owed money -- that's the decent thing to do.

As for Penn, Carville, etc. -- screw 'em

As long as she doesn't walk away with a profit? As long as just the debt is paid and none of that debt involves excessive salaries to certain people?

One big mean piece of clout Obama has and it is framed as a "sellout" if he uses it. The issue should be getting a real deal for the customary noblesse oblige of party unity. A lot of Hillary's money has gone unwittingly toward helping Obama build strength in many states, saving him actual millions of dollars of later efforts. And the party as well. in order to seal that and acknowledge it the deal is simple. Undo all the damage that calls that cost benefit into question and unite the party.

Before getting a thin dime even in a commitment. Nothing before total concession. Nothing before successful healing.

Those wishing to continue the grudge match without Hillary can pack up their spite and give to McCain and our collective destruction.

The SD's and others should have waved this sword over her head a while ago. As long as money counts in primaries this edge of the sword belongs to the winner, to Obama. So long as Hillary turns the entire investment she made in building up party registrations, volunteering and publicity FOR Obama, the presumptive nominee, the graceful gesture, the customary deal is to handle her debts as party debts.

She will have to work for this one, I hope, and it will have to grind mercilessly against her disappointment. Let's go back to taking neocon scalps please. I for one would like to keep that grudge going all the way to the Hague where it belongs.

I would have no problem with him reaching such an agreement. I will also go so far as too say that I will fully support him if he takes her on as his VP. I guess I am in the minority around here but I am actually saddened that it may have reached a point where they can not run on the same ticket.

The $25 I gave to Obama was certainly not to help Hillary Clinton get her message of divisiveness out to the masses. I think I would want my money back.

I wouldn't mind some of her vendors being paid -the small businesses and the local government entities. But as far as Penn and Co and her loans - I would not want that to happen. I'm holding off donating more until this is resolved.

You don't donate money to a campaign and then carp about how much was spent in one state rather than another, or the allocation between print and broadcast media buys, or the like. When you donate, you're saying, "Use this money in whatever way you think is most likely to get you into the White House."

Obama is in a better position than just about anyone at DU to determine if a move like this would help or hurt, and how it would compare with other uses for the money.

Before you call for the money to be used directly against McCain, you need to know to what extent that's permitted under the campaign finance rules. Some of it is restricted to the primaries, and there's still the possibility that Obama would accept public financing for the general election.

If you think he should be President, and should be entrusted with the power to make momentous decisions about war and peace, the spending of hundreds of billions of dollars, and the like, surely you can trust him on this issue. It's a hot button for some people but in the larger scheme of things it's small potatoes.

get the bills and not write a check to her. He should just pay the little guys and not Penn and not the loan from her own money. And I don't think he should pay for any attack ads made against him...

He could pay for some and if she agreed to play nice and have ALL of her people play nice i could go for some of it...but not all of it.

Leave the 11.4 million dollar loans unrepaid. She earned that money and decided to throw it away in a futile cause, so that's her problem.

But to repay the little businesses floating in debt in the wake of the Clinton barge going under is the honorable and accepted practice.

I saw one link to one commentary that speculated about this matter. These rumors are being spread by those opposed to Obama's end-the-divisiveness and unity themes who want to get back at Clinton and her supporters.

I don't care if Obama pays Clinton's debts (and I very much doubt there's truth to that rumor). Obama should continue to trust his advisers, and certainly not his divisive supporters, to do what's in the best interest of his campaign. I'm sure he will recognize people like the OP as problem supporters for him, those who harbor such anger and resentment they are more interesting in going after Clinton than in getting Obama elected.

Personally, I think elections should be free, free airtime and all that but I guess I'm just too idealistic. She is a Democrat still (well she is acting more like a Rethug but that is all for show). What is wrong with helping her? It would be seen as a nice gesture on Obama's part, that he is above it all and that he just wants to bring the party together. The only thing that bothers me is that Hill wasted alot of money early.

...unless they intended to formulate policy that would fatten their own wallets and then directly lead to still greater profits for themselves once they're out of office. That sounds ethically suspect and kind of illegal, even though I'm sure that's why Bush/Cheney did so.

First of all, this is a story line put out by pundits and pushed by Hillary assets in the media. She desperately wants to get financial help.

Second, if he doesn't help her pay any debt, then she's got to (1) eat at least $11 million of debt that is to her from the campaign, and (2) she has to deal with that mountain of debt the next 6 months, instead of be a pain in the ass to him. So why does he want to help her fix the problem she created by staying in too long, and by trashing him in every venue? No, he lets her sit in her lake of debt, and lets her spend all HER capital with all HER supporters, bugging them until they refuse to return her phone calls.

Third, the deal he should make her is this one: "If you behave yourself, if you work hard to get me elected, then I will help you reduce your debt AFTER the election, by helping you with a fundraiser YOU set up and do all the work for." Even then, he should try to stretch out the fundraising so that she behaves herself after he's in office.

I called the Chicago headquarters and asked. Made a new thread about it here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5885298

have Axelrod or Plouffe issue a brief denial when asked about it in a press conference. Don't make a big thing of it.

Like I said before - this is nothing but bobblehead TV pundits and random bloggers and net.idiots spreading rumors. I still have yet to see a hard link to any information suggesting that Obama's even thinking of doing this.