Opinion: Hillary Clinton enlists Mom to help with this campaign debt thing

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Not to squelch any of the nation’s intoxicating inauguration Obamalation, but there’s this small item of several millions of dollars that Hillary Clinton still owes folks for prolonging her Democratic primary campaign efforts to bash the fellow Democrat who’s now become her new presidential boss.

On the last weekend before the Democratic primary victor who beat her takes office as No. 44 president, the primary loser is still trying to wrap up campaign finances from last June.

But the Great Changer says he likes strong people around him -- witness Bill Richardson and Tim Geithner -- so it’s A.O.K.

Anyway, after enlisting her husband and Joe Biden and her pal Terry McAuliffe and the president-elect himself and her daughter Chelsea in fundraising appeals in recent months to whittle the $6 million or so down some more, the ex-senator from New York has now recruited her mother to plead for more money.

In an e-mail today with the promisory headline ‘One last request,’ Dorothy Rodham says, ‘This is our last chance to help Hillary pay down the debt from her history-making campaign.’

She knows how much this would mean to Hillary ‘to help my Hillary in honor of all she’s done to help our country throughout her life.’

Clinton has a lot of competition for giveaway money out there, including the new president, who the other day dispatched his first money-plea-free e-mail in months.

There’s a new national economic ailment spreading across the country called ‘donor fatigue.’ Who would have thought after how many billions given to candidates the last two years?

But Clinton’s made progress in recent months. She ate about $13 million of her own loans to herself. And of what’s left, about $5 million is owed to Mark Penn, her fired political strategist who had the problem/opportunity of working for two bosses until they found out.

Anyway, as soon as the ex-First Lady takes the oath as secretary of State any day now, political fundraising becomes illegal. Hence, Mom’s one last plea.

So you better hurry up.

--Andrew Malcolm

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