Ron Paul, sitting prettier than McCain

The long shot has the cash advantage.

Published October 16, 2007 4:15PM (EDT)

John McCain says that, as "responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars," those who work in the federal government "must respect the bottom line, just as families do when balancing their own checkbooks."

So what does McCain say when a quarterly Federal Election Commission report shows that his campaign has $1.6 million in cash to spend for the primaries but also $1.7 million in debts to be paid?

No worries.

"We have a debt that is a long-term debt, but we have cash on hand in order to fund the advertising we need to fund," McCain tells the Associated Press.

Among McCain's debts: $585,000 owed to a Web site development company, $348,000 owed to an air charter company and $119,000 owed to American Express.

By way of not entirely irrelevant comparison: Ron Paul has $5.4 million in cash on hand and not a penny of debt to report.


By Tim Grieve

Tim Grieve is a senior writer and the author of Salon's War Room blog.

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2008 Elections John Mccain R-ariz. Ron Paul