Opinion: Hillary Clinton, slowly but surely, pays off her campaign debts

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Hillary Clinton continued to whittle away at her record-breaking campaign debt last month, after raising $1.1 million last month.

Of course, Mitt Romney spent the most of his personal fortune, $44.6 million. But Clinton ended the campaign with the largest amount owed to outside vendors, $12 million.

In September, she repaid an array of vendors and individuals $1.066 million. That left her $7.92 million in arrears to consultants, according to a campaign finance disclosure filed today with Federal Election Commission.

Her biggest outside bill remains $5.279 million to the firm founded by Mark Penn, her former chief strategist. She has made no payments to Penn in months.

Clinton raised $248 million for her campaign, including money she lent herself and transferred from her Senate account. Clinton has no hope of recouping the personal $13.175-million loan.

-- Dan Morain

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