(Newser)
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The Mitt Romney campaign borrowed $20 million last month, and is still $11 million in debt, reports the National Review. The campaign borrowed the money to cover expenses while waiting to tap into tens of millions of dollars in general-election funds, which it could not do until Romney was officially declared the GOP candidate at the Republican National Convention. Official campaign filings released today will show the campaign is $15 million in debt, but that has actually been shaved to $11 million, a senior aide tells the Washington Post.
"We realized that we could collateralize this debt with $20 million of general-election funds that were already sitting in our bank account,” an aide tells the Review. "This is permitted by Federal Election Commission rules.” The debt underscores the "significant" cash flow problems that the rules caused even the deep-pocketed Romney campaign, notes the New York Times. It's not clear how much of the RNC's $168.5 million in cash on hand at the end of August is now freed up for the Romney campaign, adds the Times.
