Any thoughts on why Chelsea is wearing a choir robe?

Isn't McCain the frontrunner, way ahead in delegates, and completely broke?

Huckabee does pretty well with a lot less than Mitt...

When you're Hillary Clinton and you're running on your 35 years of experience, there is no good spin on having to lend yourself money just to keep pace with an insurgent candidacy. If this is true, this is a very, very ominous development.

"Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson: “Late last month Senator Clinton loaned her campaign $5 million.The loan illustrates Sen. Clinton’s commitment to this effort and to ensuring that our campaign has the resources it needs to compete and win across this nation. We have had one of our best fundraising efforts ever on the web today and our Super Tuesday victories will only help in bringing more support for her candidacy.”"

from Halperin

I dunno. Hillary always does better, I think, when she's on the defensive, able to play the underdog role, etc -- I think it strikes a chord with a lot of women. I think the press would mostly be bad, but the votes might be good.

Hey, I think that get up is kind of hot (Not that I want to incite some sort of backlash) but seeing as how I'm Catholic that opinion probably represents a deep seated childhood trauma of some kind.

Apparently, according to Ambinder, the Clinton campaign confirmed she loaned herself $5 Mil last month.

epicciuto, this has just been a weird year in political fashion. Between the curtain remnant Hillary wore at her NH victory speech to last night's gold jacket, to John McCain's shockingly bold ties, to Mitt Romney's Paulie Walnuts hairdo, to Chelsea's elf costume last night, it's been kind of like looking back at photos from the '72 race, when weird fashion and personal grooming reigned supreme.

AP is just reporting this hour that Clinton has put $5 million into her campaign.

To compensate, I just gave $50 to Obama. As a bonus, I still have lots of room before I hit the legal limit, and none of my income comes from corrupt foreign businesspeople, the sale of influence, bribes in exchange for pardons, or anti-reform insurance companies.

epic,

That's not a choir robe. It's part of a labyrinthine, little-known hazing ritual that hedge fund newbies have to ensure for their first couple of years.

And how does someone who's spent the last 35 years serving the public have $5 million in the bank?

Ivanova, I don't care how much she looks like an "underdog." Voters want a competent steward of the economy, not someone to be pitied. Running your campaign into debt does not reinforce the message that you can run the government effectively.

ABC News just posted the same item on the $5 million loan.  blogs.abcnews.com/.../clinton-loaned.html

Is that $5 million included in her fundraising totals from January?

Hey, Virginiacentrist... Does this breath new life into Boratgate?

Ha ha ha ha. A $5 million dollar loan? What a joke. This is a machine candidate and she can't even raise money.

I'm not so sure she wants to compare herself to John Kerry either.  For starters, his loan came before Iowa, which he won on a relative shoestring, and which she lost this time around while still flush with cash.  And then there's the fact that he's, well, John Kerry - and things didn't really turn out so well for him in the end.

BHLnyc:

I hope so! And don't forget that the real Borat endorsed Obama:

Q: Who do you favor for President in the United States?

A: "I cannot believe that it possible a woman can become Premier of US and A - in Kazakhstan, we say that to give a woman power, is like to give a monkey a gun - very dangerous. We do not give monkeys guns any more in Kazakhstan ever since the Astana Zoo massacre of 2003 when Torkin the orang-utan shoot 17 schoolchildrens. I personal would like the basketball player, Barak Obamas to be Premier."

The news that Hillary Clinton lent her campaign money is a surprise, but let's keep this in perspective

Doesn't this offer an opportunity for Obama, with the lower income demographic he's been struggling with...; if he can continue to articulately contrast of his movement (with its hundreds of thousands of small donors) versus her large donor/self-financing.  

And if he's feeling snarky, he can always throw in a polite reminder, that if elected he plans to roll-back Bush's tax cuts for the super-wealthy (hey, they just lent the campaign $5mn)..

Just read the ABC story Spencer linked. Apparently the $5 million is not included in the January totals her campaign has quoted.

when Hillary ran almost unopposed for the NY Senate in 2006 (against the little known mayor of Yonkers) she burned through 31 million dollars to get over 65% of the vote. I think she raises money fine, but burns through it even quicker. She pays salaries to her campaign team and pollsters like they are the starting lineup of the NY Yankees. I hope she does run out of money, it will serve her right. But, sadly, I am sure Bill will just introduce another businessman to a third world dictator for a handsome fee, and Bill will just hire a lot of Hillary's campaign staff as consultants for his charity, and then they can work for free for Hillary.

Thanks Rhubarbs and william, that clears up the matter. And arson, you're right: you indeed must have experienced a horrible childhood trauma and should seek help immediately.

Picking up on what Blackie said: I think you make a good point that more of an issue should be made by donors about just how the campaign spends their money. They might be spending it quite poorly.

Hold up, I just found out something TEXAS is not a primary:

   126 of the 193 delegates will be chosen at the district level, but differently than in other states where they’ve been allocated based on Congressional district: they’ll be chosen based on totals in 31 state senate districts by caucuses in more than 18,000 precincts. The remaining 67 pledged delegates will be chosen by statewide primary vote.

   So the Texas primary gives only a delegate catch of 67 delegates, less than, say, Minnesota.

   On the same date, in the evening, precinct caucuses will be held across the state and to participate one has to have voted in the primary earlier in the day. That is where the big prize of 126 delegates will be chosen.

   That scenario favors a campaign that spends the resources and has the volunteers to wage a ground game on 18,000 fronts.

Well, that makes the regular caucus process seem sane by comparison.