Hillary Clinton’s $89 million campaign fund continues to fatten as the donations pour in and the promises spew out. How the two will correlate remains to be seen, because while America may be the land of the free, there is no such thing, particularly in politics, as a free lunch.

In her New Hampshire victory speech, Clinton claimed: “The oil companies, the drug companies, the health insurance companies, the predatory student loan companies have had seven years of a president who stands up for them. It’s time we had a president who stands up for all of you.”

But for someone claiming not to be beholden to the big companies, she’s certainly profited quite handsomely from their largesse.

To fund her mission of change, Clinton has left her bank account open to all, with the American Federal Election Commission revealing that to date she’s amassed $10 million more in donations than her biggest rival Barack Obama, and the largest sum of all presidential candidates.

Among the top donors are America’s largest law firm DLA Piper, Murdoch’s News Corp, pro-female political action committee Emily’s List and other corporate heavyweights Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, both known proponents of privatising social security.

Influential lobbying firm Patton Bogs is also throwing its weight behind Clinton, indirectly placing some of its major pharmaceutical clients Bristol Myers, Hoffman LaRoche and Kidney Care Partners at the heart of the Clinton campaign, which holds “affordable, available and reliable health care” as a core election promise.

Following in the footsteps of George W Bush, The Huffington Post’s FundRace website reveals that Clinton has accepted $52,600 from the employees of the top five arms makers — Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop-Grumman, Raytheon and General Dynamics, 60 percent of the total contributed to all candidates.

It is unclear how this relates to Clinton’s promises to lead with diplomacy, and regarding Iraq, to “start bringing home America’s troops now”.

Interestingly, while arms industry employees may be favouring Clinton, The Centre for Responsive Politics found that it is Obama and his promise of immediate troop withdrawal from Iraq that has attracted the highest donation from uniformed service personnel, reaching a combined total of around $27,000.

Democrat fundraising felon Norman Hsu was a key Clinton supporter up to his conviction for fraud in 2007, forcing Clinton to return more than $800,000 of his donations. The Boston Globe reports that Clinton was warned of Hsu before his arrest, but maintained that she had run her own checks and believed he was one hundred percent legitimate. Interesting start for the woman who vows to lead America to a “return to transparency”.

Clinton, who has said of the current administration: “it is a stunning record of cronyism and corruption, incompetence and deception” has also been reported as accepting donations from questionable trial law firms like New York-based Milberg Weiss, which in 2006 was indicted of fraud and bribery. Post-indictment, Clinton apparently continued to accept donations from the firm’s co-founder, Melvyn I. Weiss, who has personally been charged with conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

In a different corner of New York, the cheques continue to roll. Chinatown has proven to be a bountiful resource for the Clinton Campaign, notes the LA Times, joining forces with influential neighbourhood associations to promote her promises to unite migrant families and speed up the citizenship process.

In April 2007, a single Chinatown fundraiser yielded $380,000 compared to the $24,000 won by Sen. John Kerry in the same area. While impressive at first glance, upon investigation the LA Times found that of 150 donors investigated, one third had no property, phone or business records, and were not registered to vote.

If Hillary gets up, balancing the wishes of donors and voters could make winning look easy.