Clinton campaign still $6M in debt

WASHINGTON (CNN) –Secretary of State Hillary Clinton rang in the new year still saddled with $5.9 million in debts left over from her unsuccessful 2008 presidential campaign, according to records filed Saturday with the Federal Election Commission.

The nation's top diplomat has been steadily chipping away at unpaid campaign bills since suspending her White House bid in June 2008, when her debt peaked at $25.2 million.

That amount included both $12 million owed to vendors as well as the $13.2 million she loaned her campaign from personal funds.

Clinton's campaign was unable to repay that personal loan by the time the Democratic National Convention convened in Denver last August, the deadline mandated by the 2002 McCain-Feingold campaign finance law.

The former New York senator has since forgiven the entire loan amount, leaving only the $5.9 million owed to vendors on the campaign's books.

Clinton and her supporters had been in a race against time to pay off as much of the debt as possible by the time of her confirmation and swearing-in as the nation's 67th secretary of state on January 21.

As of that date, Clinton became subject to a federal law known as the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from personally soliciting or accepting political contributions.