FANCY a day with Bill Clinton in New York? Or a night at the season finale of American Idol?

These are just two of the more unconventional prizes on offer for donors to Hillary Clinton's election campaign - the 2008 campaign, that is.

An email went out on Wednesday from a Democratic strategist, CNN contributor and Clinton loyalist, James Carville, imploring supporters to make one last effort to pay down the campaign debt of the former presidential candidate, now Barack Obama's Secretary of State. "I knew it was going to take an extraordinary effort to help pay off Hillary Clinton's campaign debt. But now, I think we can do it and have some fun at the same time," he said in an email to supporters.

For a donation of $US5 ($6.90), supporters go into the draw for three prizes: a day in New York attending meetings with the former president Bill Clinton; the chance to attend the season finale of American Idol; or the opportunity to talk politics over lunch in Washington with the smooth-talking Mr Carville and his mate, Paul Begala, another former Clinton staffer.

Part of the problem for Mrs Clinton during the 2008 campaign was she was outgunned by the Obama internet fund-raising machine, which left her struggling to match his media spending.

Ironically, now she is employing some of the same tactics including contests to spend time with celebrities, with some success.

According to a filing with the Federal Electoral Commission on Wednesday, Mrs Clinton has just one vendor left to pay: pollster Mark Penn. She still owes him $US2.3 million but paid off $US3 million of the debt in the first quarter of this year.

The campaign brought in $US5.6 million between January 1 and March 31, an impressive sum given that Mrs Clinton has relied on surrogates to raise money since she was confirmed as Secretary of State in January.

Meanwhile, Mr Obama released his tax returns, which had to be filed on Wednesday. They show that the President and his wife, Michelle, together made $US2.7 million last year.

While that is far more than the US median household income of about $US50,000, it is also far less than the Obamas made the previous year. In 2007 they made $US4.2 million .

Nearly all of their earnings

last year came from the President's two best-selling memoirs: Dreams From My Father and The Audacity Of Hope, which brought in $US2.5 million in royalties.