Risky Loan Helped McCain Hold On

Senator took $3M gamble, complete with death clause
By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 1, 2008 7:45 AM CST
Risky Loan Helped McCain Hold On
Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., answers a question during the Republican presidential debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008. (AP Photo/Mark Terrell )   (Associated Press)

John McCain's Lazarus-like return to the top of the race for the Republican presidential nomination required a huge gamble, writes the Washington Post—a $3 million loan last November to fund his struggling campaign, which was not only broke but $500,000 in the red. McCain had put up his fundraiser list as collateral, but the bank also required the 71-year-old senator to take out a special life insurance policy in case he died on the campaign trail.

The bet paid off: the McCain operation is now solidly in the black, having raised $7 million in January, as primary victories in New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Florida opened the taps. Last week he raised $1 million in a single day. "I cannot come up with another example of a candidate who went so far into the hole without any assurance of being able to dig out of it," said one campaign finance expert. (More John McCain stories.)

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