In defense of Hillary Clinton

Anne Kornblut and Jeff Zeleny have an NYT front-pager that seems designed to knock Hillary Clinton down a peg or two: She had only token opposition, but Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton still spent more on her re-election ? upward of $30 million ? than any other candidate for Senate this year. So where did all the money go? It helped Mrs. Clinton win a margin of victory of more than 30 points. It helped her build a new set of campaign contributors. And it allowed her to begin assembling the nuts and bolts needed to run a presidential campaign. But that was not all. Mrs. Clinton also bought more than $13,000 worth of flowers, mostly for fund-raising events and as thank-yous for donors. She laid out $27,000 for valet parking, paid as much as $800 in a single month in credit card interest and ? above all ? paid tens of thousands of dollars a month to an assortment of consultants and aides. Throw in $17 million in advertising and fund-raising mailings, and what had been one of the most formidable war chests in politics was depleted to a level that leaves Mrs. Clinton with little financial advantage over her potential rivals for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination ? and perhaps even trailing some of them. Now this would be an interesting story -- if the context suggests that she did in fact spend in a profligate manner compared to other politicos and diminshed her ability to collect future revenues. Alas, the meat of the story suggests precisely the opposite: [T]he way she spent the money troubled some of Mrs. Clinton?s supporters, many of whom have been called on repeatedly over the years to raise and give money for Bill Clinton?s two presidential campaigns, his legal expenses, his library, his global antipoverty and AIDS-fighting program and now his wife?s political career. One Clinton supporter said it would become harder to tap repeat donors if it appeared that the money was not being well spent. Nonetheless, the senator is among the most formidable fund-raisers in her party and could raise a large amount of money quickly if needed.... Political campaigns are expensive affairs for any candidate, especially those running in a state as big as New York. Some of Mrs. Clinton?s expenditures, including the more than $10 million for direct mail fund-raising solicitations, will pay off if she runs for president by giving her an expanded list of individual donors around the nation. She has now amassed a database that includes several hundred thousand new donors, 90 percent of whom contributed $100 or less, her advisers said. Under the new campaign finance law, such small donors are considered crucial to raising the large sums of money needed for a presidential campaign. Other types of expenses are seen by campaigns as necessary good-will gestures toward donors and other supporters; Mrs. Clinton?s campaign cited this in justifying the roughly $51,000 she spent on professional photographers to provide pictures of her with guests. The candidate also sought to generate good will among her fellow Democratic candidates by giving more than $2.5 million to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and other party groups. Candidates routinely use campaign money for all types of expenses. Representative Corrine Brown, Democrat of Florida, spent $24,000 of her campaign money this year on flowers; her campaign said she sent them to the families of constituents who died. Representative Richard W. Pombo, Republican of California, spent $17,250 on balloons for a single event in July. Mrs. Clinton?s aides offered varying explanations for her spending record. Some, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they are barred from discussing Mrs. Clinton?s intentions for 2008, said much of the spending amounted to an investment in voter and fund-raising databases that could form the basis of a presidential campaign. Others said the money went to ensuring as convincing a victory as possible.Look, any candidate that has enough money to hire a blog consultant is probably overspending just a bit. That said, anyone prepping for a 2008 run would be expected to overspend in this election cycle. Clinton needed to win convincingly and to amass a healthy donor base, and both of these activities cost money. I'm hardly a big fan of Hillary's, but this piece seems like ovekill to me.