Jim Geraghty notes that the Obamas have frequently referred to their experience with student loan debt as one tangible demonstration of how they understand and relate to the experience of middle class voters. But Geraghty points out that one reason the Obamas were dealing with student loans and credit card debt even while they enjoyed a household income of more than $200,000 is that they partially financed Barack’s unsuccessful 2000 Congressional race through credit card debt. How far into debt did the Obamas go to pay for the 2000 campaign? Well, according to filings with the FEC, they loaned the campaign a total of $9,500. In an early 2003 filing, Obama’s attorney specifies that the candidate had loaned the committee a total of $9,500, ‘without any involvement from a lending institution,’ but also notified the FEC that Obama (personally) was owed a total of $10,500 by his Congressional committee. The Obamas made no donations to the campaign. I’m no election lawyer, but it’s my recollection that a candidate cannot carry campaign expenses on a personal credit card without listing them as loans to the campaign. Therefore it would seem that the Obamas’ share of the campaign’s debt was limited to about $10,000. They carried that debt for months, until the liability was eventually assumed by Barack’s Senate campaign. It seems that this must be the campaign debt carried by the Obamas on their personal credit cards. It’s no small sum, but it clearly posed no financial problem for them at that time. At least, that’s a pretty simple conclusion to draw given that the Senate campaign reported more than $350,000 in cash on hand by April, 2003, but the Obamas still chose not to repay their personal debt.
