Comments on: Political Contributions

Political Contributions

donfactor — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 10:44:26 -0800

Who gives how much to whom. For those like me who have been wondering about the claim that Republicans get more of their funding from ordinary people and the Democrats get more from foundations and rich individuals here is where we can find out. So far, I have found some surprises.

By: machaus

machaus — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 10:47:59 -0800

Lyndon Larouche has raised $5.4 million, with $39,000 on hand. !?

By: thomcatspike

thomcatspike — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 10:50:17 -0800

He hee, have no party. [walks away whistling]:Money rules the world, who cares where it comes from but the Opposition. The ZIP code where Bush has raised the most money is 10021 in New York City ($712,500), which was the biggest source of money overall outside Washington, D.C. in the 2002 and 2000 election cycles. Though NY was Liberal Democrat?

By: tiamat

tiamat — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 10:54:46 -0800

I just don't know

By: thomcatspike

thomcatspike — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 10:56:10 -0800

Like several other candidates, Clark collected more money from the legal profession than from any other industry Bush has raised more from lawyers and law firms ($5.4 million) than from any other industry so far this year Edwards, a former trial lawyer, has collected 20 times the amount from lawyers and law firms than from any other industry. Is the surprise: source or amount?

By: alms

alms — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 11:01:36 -0800

Dean has raised more from Massachusetts than Kerry has. (Kerry represents Massachusetts in the Senate.)

By: Ufez Jones

Ufez Jones — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 11:02:21 -0800

Opensecrets has been discussed (or at least referenced) here several times. It is a great site, however, and I use it frequently. It's especially good for looking up bosses and other various higher-ups, just to get a feel for them.

By: matteo

matteo — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 11:04:32 -0800

"The theme involves working Americans. Visually, this will involve a sea of hard hats, which our construction and contractor and building groups are working very hard to provide. But the Speaker's office was very clear in saying that they do not need people in suits. If people want to participate--AND WE DO NEED BODIES--they must be DRESSED DOWN, appear to be REAL WORKER types, etc. We plan to have hard hats for people to wear. Other groups are providing waiters/waitresses, and other types of workers." --Russ Freyman, associate director for media relations at the National Association of Manufacturers , instructing business lobbyists how to dress for a rally on Capitol Hill in favor of the Bush tax cut, Washington Post heh.

By: briank

briank — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 11:05:20 -0800

For those like me who have been wondering about the claim that Republicans get more of their funding from ordinary people and the Democrats get more from foundations and rich individuals Where in the world did you ever get this ridiculous notion in the first place?

By: briank

briank — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 11:06:15 -0800

(not that you might actually subscribe to it, just that it's ridiculous)

By: Postroad

Postroad — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 11:08:32 -0800

The conventional wisdom years ago was that the Dems got their money from unions and workers and lawyers. The GOP, from big biz. I hope things have changed: their our few workers left and I suspect 12-year-old girls making American goods or Chinese workers are not going to make big contributions to the Dems. Fortunately, both parties get from the wealthy, for after all, both parties might be asked for favors. As Jerry Springer noted the other day on TV: hehas been in every tax bracket possible and now that he is very wealthy, he sees that all our tax lawsws are designed for the wealthy. He knows. Those are now his people.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 11:10:28 -0800

Why does Clark get all the lawyer money, should Edwards be their darling (he is, afterall, a lawyer)?

By: twsf

twsf — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 11:14:47 -0800

It's true that the Republicans get a larger percentage of their money from smaller donors. They have built a fundraising mail machine in the red states (or is it the blue states - well, whatever the heartland states are), while the Democratic party relies to a greater degree on coastal big donors (Hollywood, trial lawyers, etc.)

By: monju_bosatsu

monju_bosatsu — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 11:15:51 -0800

I just don't know Damn hippie.

By: konolia

konolia — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 11:16:42 -0800

I'm still wondering how Edwards got the gall to run for president in the first place. He's not running for reelection for his Senate seat because he knows we North Carolinians wouldn't put him back in office on a dare.

By: wrffr

wrffr — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 11:29:41 -0800

the center for responsive politics (the guys behind opensecrets.org) found that for the 2001-2002 election cycle, the democrats received 92% of all individual donations of $1 million or more. all of the donations of $2 million or more went to the democrats. the republicans got 64% of all donations of $200 and less. the democrats only got 35% of the $200 or less donations.

By: Slithy_Tove

Slithy_Tove — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 11:34:40 -0800

Is the surprise: source or amount? Both, at least for Bush and Lieberman. Both favor tort reform (although Lieberman was very quiet about that particular policy position during the 2000 election cycle), and it's a little surprising either gets any money from lawyers at all. BTW, konolia, our own mediareport has been blogging a lot of stuff about Edwards with local perspective, and seems to be concluding that he's not going anywhere.

By: matteo

matteo — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 11:40:18 -0800

mathowie because at this point even the lawyers know very well that Edward's toast. and he's not even running for reelection in the Senate, so... konolia of course God forbid somebody question the judgement of the good who kept reelecting Jesse Helms for, what, 45 years?

By: thomcatspike

thomcatspike — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 11:41:36 -0800

Why does Clark get all the lawyer money, should Edwards be their darling (he is, after all, a lawyer)? This is a hard article to read, all the figures. The figures are separated then separated again making it difficult to understand: largest; contributor, state and/or industry. For the most part the candidates mentioned received their largest or larger contributions from lawyer/legal industry. Then add big business has it's lawyers. Why a surprise, their peers. Will we see a better judicial system with these candidates?; might have been a better question here.

By: specialk420

specialk420 — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 11:45:56 -0800

the bush campaign is pretty free with the info of who its borg are - see if you neighbors are among the assimilated - then go do the right thing.

By: matteo

matteo — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 11:47:11 -0800

the judgement of the good people who kept reelecting..., of course, sorry misspelling also, and off the top of my head, a few other North Carolina proud sons who got elected to the Senate: Lauch Faircloth, John East

By: flatlander

flatlander — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 11:51:10 -0800

"The Upper East Side zip code 10021 generated the most donations for the presidential campaigns of 2000 of any zip code for both Bush and for Gore." $712,500 is spit for 10021.

By: thomcatspike

thomcatspike — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 11:59:28 -0800

the bush campaign is pretty free with the info of who its borg are - see if you neighbors Give then vote: expect your vote being ~~private~~ assumed.

By: nofundy

nofundy — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 12:07:02 -0800

The aWol campaign contributions from "lawyers" could be more accurately described as "lobbyists." DC "law firms" don't practice law, they write it for their clients, hand it to Tom DeLay and it becomes law. For a price that includes a generous campaign contribution from lobbyist and client.

By: konolia

konolia — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 12:12:02 -0800

of course God forbid somebody question the judgement of the good who kept reelecting Jesse Helms for, what, 45 years? Edwards is in a different Senate district. Elizabeth Dole took over Jesse Helm's seat. And actually you might be surprised to know how many liberals live in this state.

By: konolia

konolia — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 12:13:34 -0800

Oh, slithy_tove, thanks for the link. I bookmarked it for the hubby to read later.

By: ZenMasterThis

ZenMasterThis — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 12:32:42 -0800

The great thing about campaign finance reform is that it keeps everyone distracted from the fact that we continue to hand over more power every year to our elites on the right AND left. Campaign finance reform is a red herring. As long as there is power to be sold, there will be money to buy it.

By: ZenMasterThis

ZenMasterThis — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 12:43:53 -0800

Barbra Streisand gave $1,000 to Al Sharpton. Hey, this is cool.

By: ROU_Xenophobe

ROU_Xenophobe — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 12:53:15 -0800

of course God forbid somebody question the judgement of the good who kept reelecting Jesse Helms for, what, 45 years? Edwards is in a different Senate district. There are no US Senate districts. All US Senate races are statewide, just like gubernatorial races.

By: konolia

konolia — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 13:02:51 -0800

Pardon the error. I just worked 15 straight hours as a poll judge yesterday and precincts and districts and what not are one big tossed salad in my fevered brain right now. And that was just a city election. Give me another 6 years and I will be an expert on all of it. But Dole did take over Jesse's seat. Edwards ran against Lauch Faircloth. A run between Edwards and Dole, now THAT would have been entertainment.

By: crush-onastick

crush-onastick — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 14:44:23 -0800

contrary to what y'all might think, a fair number of us lawyers really don't like our colleagues. . .much less want them in charge of anything.

By: BirdD0g

BirdD0g — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 14:52:42 -0800

For those like me who have been wondering about the claim that Republicans get more of their funding from ordinary people and the Democrats get more from foundations and rich individuals Where in the world did you ever get this ridiculous notion in the first place? (not that you might actually subscribe to it, just that it's ridiculous) No response to the fact that this is not at all ridiculous, briank? I love how wrffr's point is so conveniently ignored here on Pinkofilter. Let's just brush it under the carpet and move on. I love it.

By: donfactor

donfactor — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 15:57:36 -0800

My surprises are that after studying this link for a while I don't think I can trust any of them anymore. Follow the money, they say. The end of innocence? I hope not but maybe.

By: thomcatspike

thomcatspike — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 16:11:45 -0800

The end of innocence? I hope not but maybe. That came when parents tell their kids; Life is not fair, now turn the Tv channel to Fox News.

By: nofundy

nofundy — Thu, 06 Nov 2003 06:25:29 -0800

I love how wrffr's point is so conveniently ignored here on Pinkofilter. Hey everyone! Birdrop reads Pinko sites! And he loves it!

By: jonmc

jonmc — Thu, 06 Nov 2003 07:18:55 -0800

Barbra Streisand gave $1,000 to Al Sharpton. Maybe they met at the hairdresser.

By: callmejay

callmejay — Thu, 06 Nov 2003 09:28:26 -0800

You can search for a company name and state. This is really cool. I now know who to make friends with. (And I found out that Vlade Divac gave 10 Gs to the DNC! Searched occupation for basketball.)