Clinton Cash Cows Stampede

Twenty million here, twenty million there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money. Close on the heels of revelations that Hillary Clinton loaned herself another six million dollars in April, her campaign noted this weekend that they are approximately twenty million dollars in the red.

Clinton aides continued to insist that she will remain in the race even while confirming that she is $20 million in debt. “The voters are going to decide this,” senior adviser Howard Wolfson said on “Fox News Sunday,” acknowledging the $20 million figure. “There is no reason for her not to continue this process.”

One of the chief points of speculation seems to be whether or not the Clintons are in back room negotiations to see if Barack Obama’s cash fat campaign might bail them out of all or part of this debt in exchange for her gracefully dropping out and possibly seeking the VP slot. Both campaigns are denying it at this point, of course, but then again it’s not the sort of thing you’d want to advertise.

There was a point in the race, not very long ago, when such a deal may have been tempting. Hilllary was still a very real threat, and getting that thorn out of his side might have been worth a lot of money to Obama. At this point, however, with Time magazine featuring the Illinois senator on its cover with the title, “The winner is..” there may be no need. Obama certainly has more appealing options out there for the VP slot and he really only has to ride this out for a few more weeks and the Clinton problem should resolve itself. There is also the general election to consider. Obama may be sitting on a lot of money, but he’s going to need it for the long fight against McCain.

Either way, the bill is coming due and somebody is going to have to pay the piper.