Democratic front runner Hillary Clinton has returned the most in campaign contributions so far among the White House hopefuls, giving back $1.78 million which includes $850,000 that was tied to the Democratic fund-raiser Norman Hsu who has since been charged with fraud and campaign finance violations.

Thanks in large part to Hsu, Clinton returned almost $1.24 million in the third quarter of the year alone.  

But she wasn’t the only one giving back huge amounts of donation money according to the quarterly reports by candidates that were filed on Monday with the Federal Election Commission.

Rivals Barack Obama returned $195,375 in the third quarter and $309,637 year-to-date while John Edwards gave back $75,706 in donations in the last reporting period and $186,536 during his 2008 candidacy, according to the FEC filings.

The Republican who has returned the most contributions during the third quarter was Mitt Romney, giving back $270,009. The former Massachusetts governor, who has led polls in early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire but lagged in national polls, has refunded almost $784,000 during his campaign so far.

In comparison, the Republican front runner and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani gave back nearly $225,000 during the last reporting quarter and $466,605 overall, according to his FEC filing. Arizona Sen. John McCain has returned a total of $338,000 during his 2008 bid, including a large chunk refunded in the third quarter, $231,236

Candidates often have to return contributions because donors gave too much ($2,300 maximum for the primary campaign and another $2,300 for the general election) or did not qualify to give (donations cannot come from a foreign national, for example).  

– Photo credit: Paul Sakuma (Hsu in court last month).