UPDATED WITH INFORMATION ABOUT THE LATEST REPORTED DEBT - go to the end of post for data on figures.
To date I have been stressing the message it would send the DNC were we to retire Senator Clinton's primary debt rapidly, and long before the DNC retires its own debt. Some readers have made the point that retiring Senator Clinton's debt is not going to reform an organization that ignored 18 million voters. I agree that retiring Senator Clinton's debt is not going to produce instant reform.
But nothing is going to produce instant reform. And I do not mean instant reform only of the DNC, but change in the business of "politics as usual" which is really going to require a long hard slog toward changing cultural attitudes about what is acceptable in politics (sexism, misogyny, and homophobia have to become as socially unacceptable as other forms of bigotry and chauvinism). As I keep saying, politicians care most about their own political power. To keep it they need two things: money and votes (and as President-elect Obama demonstrated, the first plays a big role with regard to the second). Politicians and political organizations are ever more exquisitely attuned to which way and where money is flowing - and where it is not.
This is why I will continue to encourage people to donate to retire Senator Clinton's debt. Politicians of both parties need to see where people will put their political donations (if they will or can make any in these tough times) and where they won't. I appreciate the worries that those mistrustful of President-elect Obama have about Senator Clinton being co-opted into his administration.
But that's besides my point. At the moment, retiring Senator Clinton's debt rapidly is one of the clearest ways to let politicians at every level know that even those who cast a ballot for Senator Obama in the general election, as well as those who decided not to, are not simply folding up their tents and going away. The point is not to reward Senator Clinton. The point is to protest the feebleness of the efforts so far by the Obama administration and the DNC to say or do the slightest things about the problems with the Democratic primary and caucuses process; to speak out about the despicable misogyny and sexism that ran rampant in both the primary and the general election seasons, and is still running rampant; and the non-existent to tepid indications that gender parity in political representation matters to the incoming Obama administration (for more on that read this).
There is no perfect way to communicate to the professional political class our discontent with their performance on these issues. But one very bold, very clear way to make a statement would be to erase Senator Clinton's primary debt - not for her sake, but for the sake of beginning to take concrete steps toward demonstrating that the election cycle of 2008 has brought about a number of major changes in American politics, including the formation of a serious and large voting bloc that will not simply support a Democratic or a Republican (or any other party candidate) simply because of party affiliation.
Practical matters
A number of people who have maxxed out to Senator Clinton in the primary have written to me wondering how to help in this new effort to eliminate Senator Clinton's primary debt. One person who is ineligible to contribute to the primary debt relief wrote in with the answer. This person, who I am going to nickname "Olive", is willing to sponsor a match: she will donate $50 dollars per month for the next twelve months to a feminist organization (yet to be decided) for every $50 dollars I can reasonably document has been contributed to retire Senator Clinton's debt because of the arguments made here.
If you are maxxed out to the primary and want to be part this sort of matching program, drop me a comment or an email, and tell me what cause you are willing to match to or whether you are willing to join in contributing to the feminist organization to be decided upon with regard to Olive's offer.
We are going to have to depend a bit on trust to do this because Senator Clinton's fundraising apparatus no longer records donations through a Hillraiser link. In order for me to provide updates on what is raised for Senator Clinton, and therefore to alert matchers as to when they should make good on their pledges, people will have to send me or post in comments the receipt they receive from making a donation at the Hillaryclinton.com site dedicated to retiring the primary debt.
One way to indicate that your donation is meant to register your continuing presence as a person who will not tolerate the corruption or silence on misogyny displayed by the DNC and, so far, by President-elect Obama and as someone who is committed to gender parity in American politics would be to add .51 to your donation to retiring the debt, symbolizing the 51 per cent of the American population that is female.
I am willing to keep a tally on this blog and coordinate our efforts. (I know some people have already made donations in response to what I have been suggesting, and if they send me their receipt I will start the tally right away.) A word about why I am willing to do this: Rest assured that it is not because I anticipate access to Senator Clinton or the current administration. I was a conscientious abstainer in this election and, that along with many other reasons, means that neither the Obama administration nor Senator Clinton will be seeking my input any time soon. But I did not get involved in the 2008 electoral cycle because I wanted access to politicians. I got involved because I wanted better government. I know that many people believe that better government simply cannot be had. I myself am no utopian: politics drives government and politics is never going to be a mecca of principled conduct. But I do believe we can improve both politics and government, sometimes in very small steps. I want to act on this belief, even if it means hard work and tolerating slurs. I do not know now whether my current proposal - that we knock out Senator Clinton's primary debt as soon as we possibly can - will catch on.
I learned throughout the past 12 months that there are hundreds and thousands of people of good faith and decency who want to work together to improve upon the status quo. I refuse to succumb to cynicism or despair. I sometimes have those feelings but I simply refuse to let them silence my voice or thwart my efforts.
The best information on the remaining amount of debt to retire
The most recent publicly available information comes from the most recent monthly filing statement the Hillary Clinton For President campaign had to submit to the Federal Election Commission, available here. The figures on that report are current only through 9/30/08 because that is the cut-off for the most recent reporting period specified by the FEC. As you can for yourself, as of that date the campaign reports $21,097,714 in debt. Of that, $13,175,000 is money Senator Clinton lent her own campaign and for which which she is not seeking funds. The rest is arithmetic: $21,097,714 less $21,097,714 equals $7,922,714 - approximately 8 million dollars. (Note that the Hillary Clinton For President Campaign has made enormous strides in reducing the debt, which was at 22.5 million at the end of June (source). Many people who will see this post played a role in knocking down that number to where it is now; which is why I firmly believe that it is worth polishing off the job.
I maxed out the primary donation, so, last month, I registered to donate $25.00 monthly to her Senate campaign for 2012.
Posted by: Amazonia | November 15, 2008 at 05:41 PM