Hillary Clinton hopes for a lottery win

Barack Obama has come to the aid of Hillary Clinton (pictured), his one-time rival and soon-to-be Secretary of State. When her bid for the Democratic nomination ended in failure last summer, she was left owing some $6m in loans. To help whittle this down, the President-elect has persuaded the organisers of his inauguration ceremony to put 10 prime seats for the January 20 swearing-in ceremony in a lottery.

This generous gesture will be much appreciated chez Clinton. In the latter stages of the campaign, the former First Lady was forced to dip into her own pocket to buy TV advertising. Although she has trimmed the overall sum down to $5m, money is still owed to the polling firm of Mark Penn, the Clintons' long-time political strategist. She also owes hundreds of thousands of dollars for printing, equipment rental, phone banks and other services.

The help from Obama is not totally unexpected, however. In return for her endorsement at the Democratic party convention in August, he pledged to help her clear the debts. Good to his word, an email signed by Joe Biden, the vice president-elect, was sent to an estimated three million donors asking them for help. And a fundraiser headlined by America Ferrera, the star of the US comedy Ugly Betty, is believed to have raised close to $450,000.

The tickets will raise much more. "They're like gold dust," says a Washington source. "People are prepared to pay crazy prizes. This inauguration is a key moment in the history of America."