Should Clinton use the $22 million in her GE fund to pay her campaign debts?

According to MSNBC, Senator Clinton has $22 million in a separate GE fund that can be used to pay her campaign debts, provided donors agree:

"Campaign finance lawyers say she also is entitled to transfer money she raised for the presidential general election to her Senate account, provided those donors agree to reassign the money. Clinton has raised more than $22 million for the general election. If donors approve transferring any of that money to the Senate committee, some lawyers said it appeared she could use it to pay off the debt."

link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24594032/

Yesterday, Senator Clinton held a conference call with her donors to ask for additional money to pay her campaign debts:

“On a private conference call {yesterday}, Hillary urged her top fundraisers in no uncertain terms to throw their weight behind Barack Obama, and directly asked them in surprisingly candid terms to give or raise money to help her pay off her campaign's debt."

link: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/06/20/1157198.aspx

What should Senator Clinton do?

maybe she could donate that to Obama campaign and they could pay her debts.

But yeah, it also seems at least from this article that the legality isn't clearly established.

I mean, she's lost so how is that money lost for eternity...or does the DNC get to keep it all?

It's money she raised from her donors, so I'm not clear why she doesn't just transfer it either. That would put the whole iron-my-debt issue to rest. :shrug:

she raised for the presidential general election to her Senate account, provided those donors agree to reassign the money."

That what it says, but whether it's accurate or not I can't say. :shrug:

unless I'm mistaken and there are no limits for donations to Senators (which would be strange).

re-election campaign, and then pay the other campaign from the Senate account, per MSNBC:

The law permits her to transfer the presidential campaign debt to her Senate re-election committee, which would allow her to use contributions to the Senate account to pay off presidential campaign vendors. Clinton is up for re-election in 2012.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24594032/

Consider that she transferred $16 million (I think that's the right amount) from the 2006 Senate to the 2008 Primary - and many people contributed to both - and that was not contested as it was commonplace - had Kerry run he would have had the same situation with leftover 2004 money.

print shops, local school boards, colleges (places that rented venues for speeches) etc. Those creditors should be paid off ASAP with whatever funds she can get her hands on legally.

Any money she owes to Mark Penn she should spend on herself to buy something really nice!

would be to transfer the debt to her senate re-election account, and then ask her GE donors for permission to transfer their contributions to the senate account, which is legal, according to the MSNBC article:

The law permits her to transfer the presidential campaign debt to her Senate re-election committee, which would allow her to use contributions to the Senate account to pay off presidential campaign vendors. Clinton is up for re-election in 2012.

Of course the principled thing to do would be to pay the vendors out of her own pocket immediately.

Is she trying to keep it to apply it to future presidential or Senate runs?

I am surprised that she has been out asking Obama and her donors for more money to pay all the small business owners, when she has had the necessary funds to pay them all along, from what I am understanding here.

If this is true - ie, she can apply those GE funds to her campaign debt - then I can't understand why she isn't immediately doing so. In this economy, and with her campaign rhetoric of how well she understands the average working American and the struggles they face, why is she choosing to withhold relief she knows they need to stay afloat? The people she owes money to, outside of herself, her husband and her overpaid staffers like Penn, are those average working stiffs she promised she'd never quit fighting for.

This is pure Clinton in action, which is a far cry from the lofty speeches given on the campaign trail. I am more glad now than ever that she is not going to be doing more of the same as a president. She is not a woman of her word.

I never did understand how that was legal, but since it "was," why not have him do another concert for her?

I wonder what Jerry Lewis is doing?

Would anyone who voted in the minority like to give their reasons?

comments are also welcome!