Do US candidates have to fund their campaigns out of their own pockets?

Question

Do US candidates have to fund their campaigns out of their own pockets?

Answer 1

No. In the US, there is a limit to how much each person can contribute to a political campaign... this maximum is currently set at $2,300. Political candidates have to follow this as well. They can opt to take public funding (that is raised through donations on yearly income tax returns).

They can make a larger contribution of their own in one way... loaning their campaign money of their own. Hillary Clinton did this. She lent over 11 million dollars of her own money to her campaign. This amount is supposed to be payed back to the candidate from the campaign funds.  

Answer 2

No, the funding comes out of everyone's pockets but theirs. They also receive plenty of donations from their "faithful" supporters.

Answer 3

Corporations often donate money to them though this is a conflict of interest and should not happen.  Lobbyists also approach Presidents and other Government types after elections to get their agenda across

in hopes someone will favour it. Not all bad as Civil Rights Lobbyists there as well as Corporate Lobbyists.

Answer 4

In a way, yes.  They have to raise the fund themselves.  Obviously, this creates an indebtedness on the part of the candidate to those who give funds.

HOWEVER, this time around, the candidates DID agree to accept an equal amount of money from the government and they would have been limited to that amount, and they would have had to report how they spent the money.

HOWEVER, Obama reneged on the deal.  (So much for Obama's integrity, eh ???)  

Answer 5

They would never be so careless with their own money.

Hillary  and Mitt Romney however put quite a bit of her own money into her campaign.

That is rare.

Answer 6

nope,but they do fund it from OUR pockets...hence the lavish spending