Clinton Campaign Running $1.8 Million in the Red

While holding a commanding fund-raising edge, Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton already was running in the red at the end of February and now has about $1.8 million in debts, his campaign reported Friday.

Clinton, however, is expected to erase the debts quickly as the departure of former Massachusetts Sen. Paul E. Tsongas from the Democratic race leaves him the clear front-runner for his party’s presidential nomination.

The Arkansas governor generally has held at least a 2-to-1 fund-raising advantage over other Democratic challengers throughout the campaign. Still, both Clinton and Tsongas entered March’s crucial series of Southern and Midwestern primaries with about the same amount of debt and available cash, according to government reports and information from the campaigns.

But Clinton, bolstered by his earlier fund-raising success, was able to borrow large amounts of money for the short term by using future federal matching dollars as collateral to outspend Tsongas, the campaigns acknowledged.

“That was the difference,” Tsongas’ campaign manager Dennis Kanin said Friday. “We had already borrowed a couple of months into the future and we were still behind and that meant we couldn’t borrow any more.”

Tsongas cited his lack of financial resources as the main reason he suspended his campaign Thursday. He had raised a total of $4.2 million through the middle of this month, compared to $8.2 million for Clinton.

Tsongas has a debt of more than $500,000 and was facing the prospect of private donations slowing because of Clinton’s string of primary victories, Kanin said.

According to his campaign finance report filed Friday with the Federal Election Commission, Clinton ended February with $102,068 in cash and $711,406 in debts even before he began spending heavily in the South and Midwest.

His campaign took out $1.4 million in loans this month, campaign official Keeley Ardman said. In addition, he has about $400,000 in unpaid bills through Friday, she said.

Clinton used the loans in addition to $900,000 in private donations and another $650,000 in federal matching funds he received since March 1 to advertise and campaign heavily in the South and Midwest.