What Happens To The Campaign Money?

With the eleventh hour of the election striking, I started thinking about what happens next? Specifically, what happens to all the extra money raised by the candidates during the campaign. Well, by Obama anyway. McCain's stint on SNL had him hawking wares on QVC, which might not be too far from the truth. So, what happens to all of Obama's extra money? He has, after, raised a combined $600 million dollars in the primaries and the general election.

I poked around quite a bit and found that Slate had the best breakdown of post-campaign finances. I've used the information there as a template for my breakdown below.

Here goes:

Because he did not accept public financing, Obama does not have to submit his books to the Federal Election Committee. The private money means that he does not have to refund any money back to the Treasury because he didn't take any.

He will, of course, have to pay off creditors, but he has more than enough money to do that. He is allowed to save the money for his reelection campaign. He is also allowed to give the money to the Democratic National Committee or a Democratic state party, which can then be disbursed by them.
Continued after the jump.
He can give the money to charity provided he will not receive compensation from that charity with the money provided. And, he can refund the money to each of the individual donors.

The campaign funds can't be used for personal reasons, but leftover campaign funds "may be used to defray any ordinary and necessary expenses incurred in connection with the recipient's duties as a holder of Federal office, if applicable." If Obama loses he is also permitted to use the excess cash to defray "the costs of winding down" his presidential bid, although he's only permitted 6 months to use the money to close up shop.

Obama cannot simply transfer his remaining money to another candidate, bu he can make donations to other candidates according to the rules that govern individual contributions—a maximum of $2,000.

And, if Obama gets into any legal trouble, the FEC might allow him to use some of the left-over in his defense.