What happens to campaign contributions if the candidate quits?
January 10, 2008 | As the once-thick presidential field thins with every primary contest, the candidates who fail to capture their party’s nomination may be left with lots of money but few options for using it. According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, as of the end of September, the candidates had stored up $33.6 million for the general election-money they can’t touch unless they make it beyond the primaries. The money the candidates have raised for the general-which will probably turn out to be even higher when year-end reports are filed Jan. 31-is equivalent to the cost of putting 28,000 new Apple computers in schools that need them, buying a McDonald’s Big Mac for every resident of Michigan or donating the entire Harry Potter book series to nearly every household in New Hampshire and Maine. The candidates who drop out of the race or end up losing their party’s nomination won’t get to use their leftover money for anything of the sort, however. Instead, under the F
