Christine O'Donnell Used Super PAC Money to Buy Copies of Her Own Book

Now here is a story guaranteed to make any thinking person's head hurt. Failed Delaware Senate candidate Christine "I am not a witch" O'Donnell, the most hilariously inept candidate for major office in recent memory (and that is saying a LOT), not only has her very own super PAC but has used it to buy copies of her own book. Here is Talking Points Memo with the details:

She may, famously, not be a witch, but here’s a bit of money magic from former Delaware Republican Senate candidate and recent Mitt Romney endorser Christine O’Donnell: her political campaign gave $142,000 to her super PAC, which proceeded to buy copies of her book.

Federal Election Commission reports filed by her campaign and super PAC this week show that the money her campaign gave to her super PAC represents just under 62 percent of the $229,985 the PAC took in during 2011. $19,912.30 of that money went towards an August 20th purchase labeled “PAC Fundraising Non-Residual Books” from a book shop in Philadelphia.

O’Donnell’s book, “Troublemaker,” had a list price of $25.99. If the books were purchased at that price, the campaign would have gotten around 766 copies. It’s unclear how all those copies were used for fundraising purposes since O’Donnell only received contributions from 16 individuals in the second half of the year. If all of them received a copy, she would have 750 copies of the book on hand.

Despite extensive media coverage of her book launch, “Troublemaker” failed to fly off the shelves, as Slate’s Dave Weigel pointed out back in August. The book only sold 2,000 copies in the first two weeks it was out. It’s unclear if the copies O’Donnell purchased counted during that period counted towards the total. But even if the super PAC only got a slight discount off the cover price, her super PAC would have purchased over half of the books sold in the first few weeks. If they bought them at the current Amazon price of $14.32, the PAC could have purchased 1,390 copies.

You'll recall that back when her hideous tome was released, O'Donnell managed to briefly reemerge into the headlines when she stormed off the set of an interview with CNN's Piers Morgan because the latter was asking her questions about witchcraft and sex. In my August 20th post of last year, "Why is CNN Still Interviewing Christine O’Donnell?" I questioned why CNN would give airtime to a such a total political loser. And given the completely lackluster sales figures from her book, that question is even more valid.

Some will also no doubt be outraged that O'Donnell can get away with using campaign funds to so transparently enrich herself. But that doesn't bother me as much as wondering just who it is that is so brain addled yet can still afford to donate over 200 Large to Christine O'Donnell the year AFTER she lost her Senate race by a landslide?


Bonus: "Hey little girl, you want it all. The furs, the diamonds, the paintings on the wall"