Does anyone know what "suspend" means in the context of Hillary's campaign?

[searchingforlight]

I am sorry but that word makes me a little uneasy.

[dkf]

1. It means you can still help her pay off her $30 million in debt.

I believe Edwards did this too.

You remember he still had his delegates at the time he endorsed Obama.

[jgraz]

10. She also can get first-ballot votes in the convention

She's earned that much, IMHO.

[KittyWampus]

23. No, she didn't and by not conceding she is now enabling the conspiracy theories Freeperss

are spreading amongst Clinton supporters that she IS going to make a come back in Denver.

[Meshuga]

2. The same way Edwards suspended his candidacy

Relax! Haven't you watched her speech?

[tekisui]

6. She even tried to get a "Senator Obama the next President" chant going.

And, Yes We Can.

She's in.

[KittyWampus]

24. Edwards then endorsed Obama and RELEASED HIS DELEGATES

[Meshuga]

27. Sure, but you know what?

I'm cool with her keeping her pledged because 1)- Obama has enough votes for the nomination and 2)- we can have a convention casting votes for an African American and a Woman (a historical event).

I think she should keep her delegates for the sake of her achievemnet. It's important and I'm sure Obama would have no problems with it.

[KittyWampus]

28. Sorry, it simply helps the Republican trolls feed the rumors she's not giving up and working behind

the scenes.

[IsItJustMe]

30. Some people are that damn stupid, but oh well. I think it's fine.

[IsItJustMe]

31. hic-up.

[MichiganVote]

33. Gonna miss all your favorite pissing matches eh? Too bad, we're moving on. Get with it or not.

[tekisui]

3. Edwards' suspended, it's normal.

She still holds her Pledged Delegates. ANd, she may hold them until the Convention. Obama will still take it on the first ballot though.

I think it has more to do with paying off debts. With the campaign suspended, she can still work to pay off debts. Correct me if I am wrong.

[thepurpose]

She has to suspend and not end to accept money to pay off debt. She also needs to do it before Aug

on they will be on the hook for it.

[KittyWampus]

25. That is factually incorrect. She can suspend her campaign AND release her delegates to Obama

[AllentownJake]

4. Concession

Gives her 60 days to pay of debts and return GE contributions.

Suspension gives her the convention plus 60 days.

[george_maniakes]

39. thanks for clarifying that. i was wondering why she wasnt conceding myself...

thats a pretty good answer of why. shes up to her eyeballs in debt.

[JoFerret]

5. Don't worry

pro forma.
Enables her to raise money to pay off debt.

[Blue-Jay]

7. Yes. *Everyone* knows what that means.

She has some campaign debt to pay off, and she can't do it by withdrawing. By "suspending" her campaign, she's still able to solicit and accept donations, while still throwing her enthusiastic support to the nominee.

It a FEC technicality, see?

[searchingforlight]

11. Guess I am not everyone.

[Blue-Jay]

12. Sorry. That was snarkier than I had intended. My apologies.

[searchingforlight]

13. No problem.

[searchingforlight]

8. Thanks for the clarification.

[fadedrose]

19. Paying off the debt

On msnbc Tweety said that HRC is in humongous debt. I don't know who to, but I wonder if her staff has been paid recently, people who have been appearing on TV regularly to support her.

It was also said that Obama stated somewhere that he could not use the money sent by small donors to help Hillary Clinton pay off her debt, possibly a law of some kind would be broken. But he has some people with big bucks whom he thinks will be able to contribute to HRC, no problem.

So, when you figure that getting out of debt means that the Clinton campaign has to be very nice, convincingly nice to Obama in order to get the big bucks behind him. I wonder if a deal was made. I hope the deal was sealed so that no payment of any kind would be made until AFTER the convention and that no demands would be made by her campaign to select the vice president, that is, if they want to be paid for all their work.

[hokies4ever]

9. A mere technicality that allows her to try to pay off her debt.

[butterfly77]

14. It means Hillary is still waiting for something to happen ...

to Barack..

[vaberella]

15. Suspend = Put on hold so she can get more money from donations to pay her debt of $30 million.

[MonkeyFunk]

16. She just does it to piss you off.

She's a real bitch that way.

[musicblind]

36. lol

[La Lioness Priyanka]

17. how about edwards? did that make you uneasy too? does everything you dont understand

make you uneasy?

[searchingforlight]

20. Please.. Does everything someone says make you defensive?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

34. nope only when they make insinuations that are targeted against one candidate

and not others.

[fadedrose]

22. Edwards...

Edwards suspended and didn't have a secret deal to support Obama publically and loudly if Obama's supporters paid his debts.

If there were a deal made, you would have seen Edwards and his campaign staff make a speech like the one that HRC made today. The better the speech the more money Obama's rich supporters will dish out....

[MonkeyFunk]

29. and you believe there's a "secret deal"

to pay off Clinton's debt because of what? The blathering pundits on TV and on the net who have far more content to fill than they do ideas?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

35. if that were true, we would have two equally unethical candidates. nt

[fadedrose]

38. Unethical, maybe...

but motivation is also a factor.

There's a lot of ways you can look at it, and I don't know which would be right.

Like a store owner approached by a gang for protection money so that his business wouldn't be disrupted....

A father paying off an unsuitable suitor to leave his son/daughter alone, and the guy/gal takes it with the satisfaction of getting what he/she wanted.

But - I was informed the other day by someone (forgot who) in DU who is smarter than me that paying off one's opponent's campaign debts is a common practice. So I guess the loyalty resulting from that payment is a common benefit too. The problem of ethics comes when the payment is accepted with no intention of delivering the loyalty.

[tammywammy]

18. She still needs to fund raise to pay off all her campaign debt

Nothing nefarious about it.

[babylonsister]

21. Suspending vs. Withdrawing

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/trailhead/archive/2008/06/06/suspending-vs-withdrawing.aspx

Suspending vs. Withdrawing

Hillary Clinton will suspend her campaign Saturday. But what does it mean to “suspend” your operation rather than drop out?

The question comes up every four years, and the answer remains largely the same: It lets the candidate hold on to his or her delegates. In 2000, Slate’s Ted Rose explained:

The two national parties set the rules for the selection and responsibilities of their delegates. (All states have their own laws regarding delegates, but in recent decades the U.S. Supreme Court has struck them down, ruling that the parties can set the policies.) Democrats dictate their policy from the top down: All delegates are pledged, but not bound, to reflect the conscience of the candidate they were chosen to represent.

For Clinton, “suspending” allows her to keep adding to her delegate totals. Some caucus states still haven’t held their state conventions. (Iowa’s is June 17.) By “suspending” rather than dropping out, Clinton can continue picking up delegates who might not be named yet.

It also lets her keep her promises to delegates she picked to attend the Democratic National Convention in August. If she dropped out entirely, she would keep her district-level delegates but lose control over statewide delegates. By suspending, she keeps both.

That doesn’t mean she’ll wield much power at the convention. Any decision made about the party platform or rules still requires a majority vote, which means Obama’s in charge. But Clinton’s delegates could still try to influence decisions. “If some of her supporters were greatly exercised about one particular issue and it was important to her political future that she extract a concession on the platform,” then she could exert some pressure, explained William Mayer of Northeastern University. But that’s unlikely to happen. Once you endorse the nominee, you’re effectively telling your delegates to support him or her on all counts.

Some people think it also helps Clinton continue to raise funds to pay off her more than $20 million in debt. But the FEC’s Bob Biersack said it makes no difference. “The word suspend doesn’t have any campaign-finance implications,” he said. “Even if she said she’s withdrawing from the race, she could continue to raise money to pay off her debts no matter what.” If she had opted for public financing, then suspending vs. withdrawing would matter, since you can’t take matching funds for money raised after you drop out. But this year, only John Edwards chose to take public funds.

[searchingforlight]

26. Thank you Babylonsister. Best answer yet.

[fadedrose]

32. Thanks for posting

It's interesting that HRC can continue to accept funds whether she suspends or withdraws. I guess her total support for Obama doesn't go that far as to give him her delegates not knowing if they'll come in handy later at the convention.

I hope Obama's rich supporters whom he is approaching to lessen HRC's debts are savvy enough to withhold any money till after the convention.

[Cha]

37. So many of the posters up thread do not know this little gem of info..

"Some people think it also helps Clinton continue to raise funds to pay off her more than $20 million in debt. But the FEC’s Bob Biersack said it makes no difference. “The word suspend doesn’t have any campaign-finance implications,” he said. “Even if she said she’s withdrawing from the race, she could continue to raise money to pay off her debts no matter what.” If she had opted for public financing, then suspending vs. withdrawing would matter, since you can’t take matching funds for money raised after you drop out. But this year, only John Edwards chose to take public funds."

Thanks babylonsister!~