Nothing More than Feelings?

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are raising money together here in New York City today and tomorrow. On the surface, the bad blood between these two contestants for the Democratic presidential nod will have vanished. After all, they did that whole Unity, New Hampshire thing recently, didn't they?

Well if published reports are to be believed, things aren't going quite so well when it comes to burying Hillary's mountain of campaign debt. At least one report says Obama supporters are balking at helping his old rival. As most know, the Illinois senator asked his top donors to kick in to help retire Senator Clinton's $23 million dollar debt. The take thus far? $100,000 dollars, a small sum by any objective standard. 

Yes, they've gotten more in pledges, but some of Obama's donors are reportedly balking at paying down a debt they feel was amassed trying to damage their guy. In other words, some feel the senator from New York ran up the bulk of that massive sum after she lost the mathematical chance of catching Obama. Most reportedly want their money not to go to Clinton, but to beating John McCain in November.

The down side for Obama is that he can ill afford to look less than helpful in the effort to help his formal rival. There are still lingering resentments among some in the Clinton camp, and some of her donors are feeling left out of the loop when it comes to visible positions in the Obama campaign.

All this could be a minor dust-up, a tempest in a teapot. The money raised at the New York fundraisers over the next two days will go to Obama, not Clinton. Maybe these media reports are overblown.

Let's hope so.