Many questions have arrived about what sort of "deadlines" the DNC is putting on Senator Clinton to retire her debt...or else? Before I make any comments about when to donate to what, let's first review the "or else". The reason the DNC is pressuring Senator Clinton on this matter at all is because DNC leaders actually believe that once Senator Clinton stops fundraising, everybody who has given to her will magically switch over and donate directly to the DNC. Unless the DNC issues an announcement but quick that they are going to hold a genuinely democratic convention (Senator Clinton's name in nomination, roll call vote, no pressuring the superdelegates from on high, no insisting that Senator Clinton agree to refuse the nomination if she should be elected the nominee), I strongly doubt that too many of Senator Clinton's supporters will fulfill this DNC fantasy. But the DNC needs to hang on to that fantasy - the one where they drive the winner of the popular vote in the primaries out of the convention and treat Clinton supporters like dirt, but still everybody just ups and gives them money regardless - because guess who has a tremendous debt problem: why, the DNC itself. The DNC is millions and millions of dollars in the hole, and is busily canceling all sorts of events in Denver and replacing them with fundraisers for itself (thereby causing severe economic hardship to the small business owners of Denver who were counting on income from the long scheduled but now canceled events, as well as to the beneficiaries of the canceled events such as down ticket Democrats).

I have no solid information about which particular "deadline" the DNC is now trying to foist on Senator Clinton in exchange for something that her campaign should never have had to negotiate in the first place. My best information remains that which I received from the Clinton campaign a while back, when they informed major fundraisers that they were making a big push to raise as much as possible to retire the primary debt by July 15.

If your main objective is to aid Senator Clinton the sooner you donate to retire her debt the better. But of course all this talk of deadlines is also a way of preventing people on budgets from making to other organizations, such as The Denver Group among others, who are working hard to try to save the Democratic Party from itself. Feel like you are in a double bind? That's because you are, thanks to the ever delightful Dr. Dean who has failed miserably in his job as national party chair.

So now we all know how Senator Clinton probably felt so often when she dealt with the Democratic National Party this season: coerced, manipulated, and treated with contempt.

Under present circumstances everybody has to decide for herself or himself what s/he can and wants to give to whom when. I cannot and would not presume to tell autonomous adults what they should do. Analyze your finances. Maybe you can give something toward retiring Senator Clinton's debt and toward one one other cause related to keeping the Democratic Party democratic. Certainly, do not put yourself in financial jeopardy whatever you do.

Troubled times, troubled waters.