Former Democrat U.S. Senate candidate from California Mickey Kaus notes that federal law allows candidates to draw a salary from their political campaigns and use that salary to pay their bills.

But the regs explicitly allow candidates to pay themselves a salary (as long as it doesn't exceed what they made "as earned income in the previous year"). Trust me, that's a provision I was eyeing eagerly when I ran for Senate, though I never had enough surplus money to pay myself anything.

This is good news – and common sense. Without such a provision, the poor and even the middle class could not afford to run for political office – leaving public service to the retired and idle rich. While there are plenty of questions about Delaware Senate hopeful Christine O’Donnell’s candidacy – paying herself a salary from campaign funds shouldn’t be one of them.