Campaign debt consolidation

It's hard to know where the money comes from if it's all just one big "personal loan."

The loans can sometimes make people's fundraising efforts more opaque. From the beginning of 2018 until Sept. 27 -- the end of the campaign finance tracking so far -- Ardoin has actually raised the most money from donors, approximately $228,000,  though he has never had the most cash on hand.

Of the six major candidates, Cloud has raised the least money, less than $20,000, but she had the third largest amount of cash-on-hand headed into the last month of the race because of the personal loan she gave her campaign.

It's probably fine, though. As we all know, the surest protection against corruption in politics is independent wealth.