Will Hillary Clinton Campaign to Refill Her Own Bank Account?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:
Money Crunch
Even if she drops out of the race, Hillary Clinton may choose to spend the summer hosting fundraisers in order to repay loans she made to her own campaign.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The New York Sun reports Senator Clinton has loaned $1.4 million to her campaign, and she must repay the money by the date of the election or forfeit all but $250,000.
The Sun points out this sets up a scenario of Hillary and Bill Clinton asking for money that will go directly into their pocket, even though they have earned more than $100 million together over the last eight years.
The Clinton campaign has not said whether the senator will try to repay the money to herself or concentrate on the $9.5 million she owes to vendors and consultants.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Barack Obama has indicated he might be willing to help Senator Clinton retire her campaign debt if he becomes the nominee.
Disaster Ahead?
Recent state polls are painting a gloomy picture for Republicans in this fall's Senate elections.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Hill newspaper reports Democrats are now ahead, or within the margins of error, in races for 11 Republican seats — almost half the 23 GOP seats up for grabs in November.
By contrast, there are only 12 Democrats up for re-election this fall, and only Louisiana's Mary Landrieu appears in jeopardy.
A spokesman for the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee says that while you cannot read too much into individual polls, the big picture indicates the election could go big to the Democrats.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Arresting Development
Environmental activist George Monbiot, who writes a column for The Guardian newspaper in Great Britain, was planning to execute a citizen's arrest on former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton Wednesday night. Bolton is making a speech in Wales.
Monbiot tells the Daily Telegraph Bolton was "instrumental in preparing and initiating the Iraq war by disseminating false claims through the State Department" when he was an undersecretary for arms control.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Monbiot says he has formally notified police of his intention to detain Bolton following his speech, and acknowledges it is simply a symbolic gesture.
But, the director of the Wales event says Monbiot's attempt at a citizen's arrest would be illegal.
Sorry About That
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Subway sandwich chain today apologized for excluding home-schooled children from an essay contest it is sponsoring. Subway received heavy criticism for explicitly forbidding home-schoolers from entering its "Every Sandwich Tells a Story" contest.
Subway's partner in the effort is Scholastic News Service, which caters to home-schoolers and quickly apologized.
Subway held out until Wednesday, when it called the exclusion an "inadvertent limitation". The company said its intent was to provide money for athletic equipment for traditional schools that may be short of funds.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}It cannot legally change the rules now, but Subway is promising to include home-schoolers in a new contest coming soon.
— FOX News Channel's Martin Hill contributed to this report.