Hillary Clinton Loans Campaign Another $1 Million; Obama Tours Afghanistan, Iraq

Hillary Clinton seems to be having a difficult time getting herself out of $25.2 million in debt after her historic presidential campaign ended last month.

The New York senator loaned herself another $1 million at the end of June, according to the latest campaign finance reports submitting to the Federal Election Commission. Clinton, who conceded the primary race to Barack Obama early last month, saw her debts to vendors increase from $10.4 to $12 million from the end of May to the end of June. Clinton’s latest loan, recorded on June 30, brings the total amount she has lent her campaign to $13.175 million. A Clinton spokesman said the latest loan was to "pay immediately outstanding debts."

Although Obama has also been asking supporters to help Clinton get out of the hole, the former first lady took in just $2.7 million from donors in June, less than the $5.4 million spent.

Other FEC filings show that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., spent nearly $26 million in June, up from the $11 million he spent in May but $5 million more than he raked in from contributions. That left him with $27 million in the bank at the beginning of July. McCain also had $1.4 million in debt at the end of June.

Obama reported having $72 million in the bank at the end of June, with $12 million of that reserved for the general election after the Democratic conventions in late August. About $52 million in contributions was collected in June, and $25.6 million was spent. Obama has just under $1 million in unpaid bills. The Republican National Committee and the McCain campaign combined had $95 million in the bank at the end of June, compared with about $92 million shared between Obama and the Democratic National committee.

Obama in Iraq

In other Obama news, the Illinois senator is in Iraq today for the second time as the latest leg of an overseas trip that began in Kuwait and Afghanistan. He will later travel to Jordan, Israel, the West Bank, Germany, France and England. Obama arrived Monday afternoon in the southern city of Basra and met with: Lt. Gen. Lloyd Austin, commander of Multi-National Corps-Iraq; British Maj. Gen. Barney White Spunner, commander of Multi-National Division South East; and Maj. General Abdul Aziz, the Iraqi army’s 14th Division commander. Obama then traveled to Baghdad, where he was to meet Gen. David Petraeus, the head of U.S. troops in Iraq; Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq; and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

"We had a very constructive discussion," Obama said before heading to his next meeting with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. "I’ll be providing details later during my visit."

Obama has come under fire from McCain and other Republicans for outlining a plan for troop levels and withdrawal in Iraq and Afghanistan without having seen the conditions on the ground, particularly the positive effects of the recent troop surge.

"I hope he will have a chance to admit that he badly misjudged the situation, and that he was wrong when he said the surge wouldn’t work, and admit that the surge has succeeded and that we are winning the war," McCain said in a news interview this morning.