What happened to her and Bill's $109 million?

It'll be interesting to see how much he can raise on her behalf. If his supporters are as rabid as some of her supporters describe, then unity may be farther off than one fears.

BTW, would someone please explain the concept of "unity" as it applies to independents?

Where is Norman Hsu when you need him.

Snark aside, it will depend on how she conducts herself going forward. The more aggressive she is in campaign for and walking back the awful talking points she's given the Republicans, the more likely it is that the funds get paid off.

And can I say: $30MM in debt is just ridiculous. She should have folded up shop when her money ran out instead of stiffing her vendors and staff.

What happens to the $20MM+ from her general election fund? Can she donate that money to the DNC? That would be some SERIOUS goodwill....

This will be a tough sell by Obama:

"Please donate money to Hillary's failed campaign instead of my active campaign, because Hillary racked up huge amount of debt in her attempt to drag the nomination process out as long as possible and to create a huge division in the party by convincing her supporters that my winning the nomination was somehow illegitimate."

I'm happy to send Hillary a box of envelopes and some postage stamps.

She claims that her base of 17 million voters are so loyal, then let each of them give her campaign $5 each to go towards her debt, problem solved.

I have a slightly different take on this after listening to Tom Hartmann the other day. It would seem to be a good idea for the Democratic Party in the long run if Obama helps her retire her debts (again, not through our contributions but through targeted fundraisers). It's a win-win situation for everybody because her debt would be retired (which she incurred running for nominee of the Democratic Party, after all), he would look extraordinarily magnanimous and generous, it would push along the "Unity" theme and perhaps soften up those hardcore Clinton supporters who see him in a very negative light, and the heavy hitter donors would get a chance to see him up close. I don't see a downside if it's done correctly, which it will be if Obama and his team are setting the ground rules. I was against the idea initially (mostly out of anger toward her), but I think it's a good idea as long as it's controlled by the Obama people.

They can pay off her vendors if they want (although all of that was needlessly wasted attacking our nominee to the benefit of McCain), but they shouldn't get bailed out on the $11 million or however much they have donated so far from their personal bank accounts. At that point it is just people donating to rich selfish people who don't need it and don't deserve it.

Breaking News:

The deal struck between Obama and Hillary is that at the end of every speech Obama gives between now and November, he has to work in a plug for her website.

"This is our time! This is our moment! God bless America! Oh yeah, please go to hillaryclinton.com and donate."

Well, now Hillary knows why losing campaigns don't always stick it out for all fifty states.

While I personally prefer that someone retire Clinton and leave her debt alone as an unending mark of her endering folly . . . The quicker HRC's monetary shortfall can be paid the quicker she can go back to being New York's third best current Senator.

I can't wait to get my first Clinton Bail-out email from Plouffe.

This can also be called blackmail.

We've all known since late February that this race was over. In spite of that, HRC spent $50m more (in addition to going $30m in debt), forced BHO to spend $100m, and now she has the gall to ask him to help her out of the debt she created?

Couldn't Bill do half a dozen speeches and make the debt go away?

but paying Mark Penn is galling

i say, let 100 Mill Hill pay off her own debt. She certainly can afford it.

Obama can and should ask us to help her. But if we don't deliver, can you really blame us?

How about this for a compromise? Obama retires her debt not including the personal loans she gave her campaign. That was the Clinton's personal money and personal choice. If the campaign couldn't continue without it, maybe it should have stopped then. You don't see John McCain paying back Mitt Romney all of his personal loans, and you didn't see Cindy McCain letting her husband have at her personal fortune when he was nearly bankrupt.

[Obama would] likely send out e-mails to his much-praised list of small donors asking them to give Hillary a hand.

I seriously doubt this. It'd be an insult to folks who by definition have limited resources to ask them to bail out the poor multimillionaire.

He could conceivably send out a smaller, targeted email to his maxed-out folks, or perhaps those who have given, say, $1000 donations. The appeals I've received seem to "know" the exact increments I've given in the past, so I'm sure they could do that kind of database-sort pretty easily.

Besides all that has been said about Obama not being able to transfere funds, I think that I also read something about loans by the candidate to their own campaign are different than the other debts. I wish I could be clearer. I'll go search around.
I agree with Carol that the man is on the ball. I thought well of him a month ago but since then he has impressed me more and more. I know this sounds gushy but I am so glad I get to see this once in a life time candidate in action.

I've been saying this all along: When it was obvious to anyone with a functioning neuron or two that there was no way Hillary could win, she kept this silly little grin on her face--knowing that her "fans" could be milked for more money while in the back of her mind she knew she could do a "gentlemen's blackmail" on the Obama campaign. This is Bill's way of thinking too. So here we are, call it what you like, she's gotten her way. Your money, my money--is now her money. and HillBill's.

There's no way I would donate to retire the Clinton's debt. They will just pass it along to Mark Penn and other DLC types.

She continued to rack up debt even though it was mathematically impossible to win. She was forced to concede, did untold damage to Obama and the Democratic party.

I have consistently donated to Obama's campaign but will suspend my donations until there is an indication that the Clinton debt is paid.

It would be repugnant to me to think my hard earned money helped the Clintons or Penn in anyway!