Hillary closes the deal on buying Vilsack’s endorsement
posted at 9:36 am on July 17, 2007 by Allahpundit
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The bargain was struck in March but the bills hadn’t come due yet. She made a few calls, leaned on a few friends, and pretty soon he was holding a bag worth almost 90 grand.
Never let it be said she’s not a woman of her word.
Shortly after endorsing Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign, former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack received nearly $90,000 in donations to his defunct presidential campaign from some of Clinton’s major backers, campaign finance reports show.
The donations, disclosed in Federal Election Commission filings over the weekend, came from Clinton fundraising bastions of New York, California, Texas, and Washington, D.C.
None came from Iowa, where Vilsack served two terms as governor…
In May and June, at least 45 Clinton donors contributed $87,000 to Vilsack’s presidential campaign account. Vilsack used part of the money to repay himself $55,000, part of a personal loan he had given to his campaign. He paid other bills as well.
He dropped out in March and received $87,000 in donations — all from Hillary supporters — in May and June. Maybe they were trying to nudge him back into the race because they thought the competition would be good for her? You think?
Exit question: Who’s going to buy McCain’s endorsement after his campaign goes bankrupt? My money’s on the guy who can afford $300 for makeup consultations.
Update: If not for his own fabulous wealth, the better question might be who’s going to buy Mitt’s endorsement.
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McCain’s endorsement isn’t worth two cents, unless he comes out supporting Cankles.
fogw on July 17, 2007 at 9:53 AM
The guy who loses the bet.
amerpundit on July 17, 2007 at 9:55 AM
Yeah – they might have to pay off McCain not to endorse – after Shamnesty and all.
nailinmyeye on July 17, 2007 at 9:57 AM
McCain’s education from the American public about the rule of law and illegal immigration is the only thing McCain can take with him from his campaign. He has trashed his whole political career by getting caught up in Washington group think just like the Wall Street journal boys.
His endorsement will be a minus, not a plus. It will be like a Cindy Sheehan or Michael Moore endorsement. McCain really did crash and burn in mindless style.
saiga on July 17, 2007 at 10:01 AM
$90,000? Hum, where is the cash that “Cold Cash” Jefferson had?
Got to agree with saiga about a McCain endorsement. Not worth the paper it would be printed on.
BobK on July 17, 2007 at 10:05 AM
I wonder how much longer we will have to see him in debates. I’ll never forget watching the segment on FOX with the pollster Lund. Every time McCain mentioned the amnesty bill in the debate, you could watch the wired viewers opinion drop on the scale. Lund said the issue was like quicksand ; the more you thrash, the deeper you sink. In McCain’s case, the more he talked, the lower the opinions he got. McCain should have been smart enough to take heed from that feedback, but he kept on pushing that dead horse like a real bonehead.
A president needs to be a little more astute than that. McCain showed he can’t be trusted with big problems.
saiga on July 17, 2007 at 10:09 AM
You do know what happens to Campaign Finance donations when a Politician quits politics??
THEY KEEP IT!!
Blatant bribery made possible by our own silly laws…
Romeo13 on July 17, 2007 at 10:13 AM
Is an endorsement really worth anything when you can prove it was bought?
Esthier on July 17, 2007 at 10:25 AM
Esthier,
People like us are the only ones that even notice. So, yeah…I think it is.
jeremiad on July 17, 2007 at 10:29 AM
Exit question: Fred! will buy it. But not for himself. He’ll pay McCain to endorse Rudy or Mitt, depending on who is posing the greater challenge.
kjspeedial on July 17, 2007 at 10:49 AM
With Vilsack and Clinton, it’s less about the Vilsack supporters that will now vote for Clinton, but more about the money people Vilsack can send her way and the organization.
Same goes for McCain, whomever he ends up endorsing should get a bit of a money/organization boost. The voters that come with are tertiary.
EduardoOTI on July 17, 2007 at 11:11 AM
Translation: it went in his pocket.
That’s a pretty big pocket. The thing you have to remember is that the ONE characteristic all “fabulously wealthy” people share is the love of money. The richer someone is, the more that means that he doesn’t invest money unless he expects to get it back – with interest.
logis on July 17, 2007 at 11:27 AM
I’d like to go on the record as being willing to accept any and all donations from presidential candidates if they don’t want to see me launch a run for the White House. ;0
Seriously, is anybody surprised about this and how openly it occurred? Hillary Clinton BOUGHT her Senate seat by selling Presidential Pardons to terrorists and tax cheats. This is just more of the same and she’ll get away with it because the MSM is a de facto propoganda wing of the Democrat Party and the Clinton campaign.
highhopes on July 17, 2007 at 11:39 AM
I don’t know who McCain will endorse (if anybody), but it wouldn’t be a bad thing- he’s still tied with Romney in the polls at around 12% last I looked, and swinging even half that to another candidate could have a significant impact.
Does anyone here who’s in a particular candidate’s corner really plan to stop supporting him if McCain endorses him?
Also, I have to wonder if Romney will fall into the same trap as McCain financially- continue to spend big even when donations peter out. He’s already “loaned” $9 million to his campaign; how much more of his own money he’s willing to spend could be a factor.
Hollowpoint on July 17, 2007 at 11:50 AM
$55,000 goes in his pocket, and the rest goes to pay off debts that he would have owed personally.
Heh — most ethical party. Ever.
Jaibones on July 17, 2007 at 12:13 PM
In the short term, it would be great IF McCain would simply ask his supporters to back another candidate and then quietly slink away.
After the 2000 Primaries, I thought McCain was a backbiting weasel, but I never thought he was an idiot. I always assumed he was just in this race to try to gain some more notoriety and leverage in his bid to be “King of the Moderates.” So I always assumed he would have an exit plan.
But every time I said that, people would always say: “No way; the guy’s a certifiable megalomaniac.” And now that it appears he fully intends to go down with the ship, I’m inclined to believe them.
…Anyway, my point is that getting McCain’s endorsement might be the easy part; the hard part would be to keep him from thinking he’s your boss from then on.
Very much so. At his level, wealth and cash are two very different things. Just because you are a “billionaire” doesn’t mean you have that many dollar bills sitting around in a safe somewhere, let alone that you don’t mind throwing it away.
The problem is that Romney can free up enough funds to buy a governorship or a strongly influence the initial primaries, but not nearly enough to win a national election.
Romney acts like he’s campaigning, but really everything candidates are spending now is “seed money” – meant to stimulate future donations. I’m hoping that Romney will have a LOT more sense than McCain, and cut his losses if his initial attempt to prime the pump doesn’t pan out.
logis on July 17, 2007 at 12:29 PM
I fully expect a hard-hitting report on this from Olberman tonight…
revolutionismyname on July 17, 2007 at 1:06 PM
Another reason I will never give money to any political candidate.
Zach on July 17, 2007 at 1:09 PM
Vilsack is a weasel and a lightweight, and I can’t quite understand why Shrillary would bother to pay him for his worthless endorsement. I’m thinking there’s more to it, but how much can it matter? Another Clinton scandal to be ignored by the MSM and virtually all of political America? Nothing to see, etc., etc.
Freelancer on July 17, 2007 at 4:59 PM
It’s Iowa, dude.
Hillary has to have as much short-term control as possible when the time comes for the Primary vote. Simply burying Obama would be easy – she could do that tomorrow if she wanted to. But that won’t give the media sufficient excuse to keep the 24/7 free coverage coming in. Hillary has to promote the charade that there is a real competition going on. So Hillary has to keep her nationwide numbers as close as possible to Obama’s. Even after the primaries begin, she’ll want to lose a handful and keep the margins fairly close.
Besides: $90,000? That’s pocket change for Hillary.
logis on July 17, 2007 at 6:44 PM
I would like to see this PIPAS spend any of her money buying endorsments, lots of her money. She is not going away and she will have to be delt with, along with her half assed husband. They can spend their money and hope that those people can bring her votes. The fact is that they can’t and won’t. She will be left, floating in the canal.
NEMETI IN SYRACUSE on July 17, 2007 at 8:39 PM
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