Obama Camp Faces Major Obstacles In Plan To Help Clinton Pay Off Debt.


Top officials of the Barack Obama campaign are privately exploring ways to
help Hillary Clinton discharge her debts and pay back the $11.43 million she
has loaned her organization, but they are running into two major stumbling
blocks.



The first is obvious: the deep and growing animosity of Obama supporters
towards Clinton, whom they see as raising issues of race and 'elitism' that
will hurt the Illinois Senator in November.



In an interview
with USA Today for example, Clinton declared: "I have a much
broader base to

build a winning coalition on," citing an AP article "that found how
Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is
weakening again, and how whites in both

states who had not completed college were supporting me."



The second is less obvious: Mark Penn.



For many Obama backers, Penn, the former chief strategist for Clinton

and head of one of the biggest PR-lobbying conglomerates in the nation's

capital, is the quintessential Washington
insider, capitalizing on political

connections to become a multi-millionaire.



The immediate problem with Penn -- whose conflicts of interest plagued

the Clinton campaign and ultimately
led to his being publicly, if not

privately, repudiated -- is that if Obama helps Clinton
pay off her debts, a

big chunk of those debts -- an estimated $10 million or more -- is owed to

Penn.



Penn is the CEO of Burson-Marsteller, which has "a global network of 94

offices and 1600 employees that brings world-class public relations to

companies around the world."



Burson-Marsteller is one of the 246 companies owned by WPP, a leading

global advertising and marketing services group. WPP controls a powerful

array of public relations, advertising and lobbying companies, including

Hill and Knowlton; Dewey Square; Ogilvy and Mather; Public Strategies Inc.;

AGB Nielsen Media Research; Quinn Gillespie and Associates; Timmons and

Company; Wexler and Walker Public Policy Associates; Young and Rubicam

Brands.



Penn, who remains a top adviser to Clinton,
was forced to step down as

the face of the Clinton strategy
team after disclosures that he was meeting

privately with the government of Colombia
to promote congressional approval

of a trade agreement which Clinton - and her most loyal voters -- oppose.



Consideration by the Obama camp of providing financial help to Clinton

would be part of a peace-making process in the event that she withdraws from

the presidential nominating contest.



Under federal campaign finance law, the Obama campaign cannot directly

pay off Clinton's debts, or the
$11.43 million she has loaned the campaign,

because that would violate campaign contribution limits. But if Obama is the

nominee, he and his donor base could provide invaluable help to her in

raising money through signed appeals, joint fundraisers and by other

methods.



The Obama campaign does not want to be identified as having discussions

about Clinton's finances. Obama
aides used the term "chit-chat" to dismiss

any such discussions.



Many of Obama's grassroots and netroots backers appear to be outraged

at the thought that the Obama campaign might step in to lend a hand to get

Clinton out of a financial hole --
and out of the race -- as was reported

Wednesday.



The Huff Post web site was flooded with more than 1,200 complaints on

this score:



"No! No! No!" wrote a commenter using the web name 'Realbluesky'.
"The

Clintons have proven what kind of
scum they are." 'Dbrockx' wrote: "Why is

she being rewarded for disrupting the Democratic party and trying to

sabotage Obama?" 'Amber09' pulled no punches: "The Clintons
would never help

Obama if this was reversed! They would be laughing they asses off that a

black man could dare to think he could beat the Clinton
machine! The

Clintons created the mud pond, let
them now stay in the mud they created!"



Both Obama and Clinton have broken all Democratic fundraising records.

Through the first quarter of this year, Obama raised $234.7 million, and

Clinton $189.1 million. As of March
31, the date of the most recent FEC

filing, Obama had $51.1 million in the bank and just $662,784 in debt, for a

net cash position of $50.4 million; while Clinton
had $31.7 million in the

bank, debts of $15.2 million, and had loaned the campaign $6.4 million. (The

FEC lists debts and loans separately.) More recently, Clinton
disclosed that

she had made her campaign additional loans, bringing the total amount she

has loaned to her effort to $11.4 million. At the same time, her campaign was

running close to broke for much of last month. Details of fundraising and

spending for the month of April do not have to be filed until May 15.



Money is a central issue in the delicate negotiations that many expect

to lead to a Clinton withdrawal. A
winning candidate often offers to do

whatever is legal to help a loser pay down debts. In this case, there is

exceptional animosity between the two camps. Furthermore, Penn's interest in

any negotiations are sure to be pressed very aggressively by the Clinton

campaign's new Chief Operating Officer, Howard Paster. Paster was brought in

immediately upon Penn's retreat, and, as it happens, Paster is Penn's boss.

Paster is the executive vice president for public relations and public

affairs at Burson-Marsteller's parent company, WPP.



In his new capacity as COO of the Clinton
campaign, Paster is almost

certain to be central in deciding how much of any money Obama might help

raise for Clinton is used to pay
off the debt to Penn. This set of

relationships will undoubtedly impact the enthusiasm of Obama donors for a

Clinton-Obama pact.



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