Queen Hillary Campaigns Too Regally

$13,000 worth of flowers, mostly for fund-raising events and as thank-yous for donors. She laid out $27,000 for valet parking, $1.1 million for pollster Mark Penn and $930,000 for message maven Mandy Grunwald.

All in all, NYT reports, Hillary Clinton blew through $30 million in a slam-dunk campaign, leaving her with about the same cash on hand as her probably 2008 rivals -- and that's ticking off some long-time Clinton supporters. Says the NYT:

Yet the way she spent the money troubled some of Mrs. Clinton’s supporters, many of whom have been called on repeatedly over the years to raise and give money for Bill Clinton's two presidential campaigns, his legal expenses, his library, his global antipoverty and AIDS-fighting program and now his wife’s political career. One Clinton supporter said it would become harder to tap repeat donors if it appeared that the money was not being well spent.

I think they'll pony up just fine when the time comes, and if the don't, Hill's $30 mil bought her an awesome fundraising list.

The real significance is the cavalier ease with which she spends other people's money -- no surprise, of course, but a stern warning of what's to come if the Shrike of the Hudson makes it to the White House.

Related Tags: Politics, Clinton, Hillary, 2008