Imagine What She Would Do with Trillions

Here’s a headline most thought they’d never read about the Hillary Clinton Campaign Gravy Train:

Clinton Lent Campaign $5 Million, Considers More

There was a clear warning sign that it might come to this in November 2006, referred to at the final item here at BizzyBlog at the time (bolds are mine):

November 21, 2006
Clinton Won Easily, but Bankroll Shows the Toll

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 — 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….. 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.

The campaign’s financial record has fueled some criticism among Democratic activists and prompted concern among Mrs. Clinton’s supporters, including complaints from some of her fund-raisers that her top aides exercised a lack of discipline.

….. Mark Penn, Mrs. Clinton’s pollster and longtime adviser, received at least $1.1 million. Mandy Grunwald, her longtime communications strategist, received more than $930,000. Hudson Media Partners, an offshoot of the Glover Park Group consulting firm where two prominent Clinton advisers, Howard Wolfson and Gigi Georges, work, received nearly $200,000.

Campaign aides said much of the consulting work went toward building a donor list that would be vital in a presidential race. But they did not specify the work done by each of the consultants or say exactly how much of the money they received went to preparing for a presidential run rather than Mrs. Clinton’s Senate re-election. And the figures have raised eyebrows among the people who raise money for her.

“We’re not in this business to make consultants rich,” said one fund-raiser for Mrs. Clinton who was granted anonymity in order to speak freely about the direction of the campaign.

“The wasting of money — it drives everybody crazy,” the fund-raiser said. “She’d better get a handle on this if she is going to run for president.”

Too late for that, it would appear.