The $20 Million Question

by Steve Soto

Why rack up a debt of $20 million this late in the campaign? What nobility is there in continuing a race without broad financial support, one that has generated a debt that will require years of fundraising to pay it off? No matter how much you may support Hillary’s remaining effort, can a debt that size this late in the season be justified as the cost of doing business at the back end of a failed strategy, despite the more civil tone each side has displayed towards the other since North Carolina?

It would be different if Hillary were still within striking difference even with uncontested upcoming victories in Kentucky and West Virginia, and with a firewall of superdelegate support. But both of those are now no longer in play, as Obama has caught and passed her among superdelegates, and the upcoming contests will not turn the race back to her favor among elected delegates. So why go into debt $20 million this late in the campaign, if the only reason is to leave on your own terms, or to save one last round of cannon fire for the front-runner? In either case, the indebtedness seems unwarranted.