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Last week, we pledged to provide some direct information about who the leading Democratic Presidential candidates receive the bulk of their campaign funds from. The information was originally supposed to summarize and highlight what organizations and people were supporting the candidates so we can get an idea of where their loyalties may lay, once elected. After doing some extensive research, it was decided that there is not a truly fair and accurate way to provide the exact information in a brief format; there is simply too much information to sift through, and the more you dig, the more convoluted it gets. This problem is endemic of our current campaign financing laws, and don't believe it will radically change any time soon.
So...rather than go off on a tangent about meaningful campaign finance reform, as opposed to the 'lobbyist shakedown' and media censorship tactics of politicians like Tom Delay, John McCain (sadly, the McCain-Feingold bill), and others in the past, we'll 'try' to do a brief dissection of their financing information. For those that are interested, links to sources with full information about their financing are provided so you can get a better idea of what is being referred to. So here goes... |
| Hillary Clinton has raised the most money as of the 3rd quarter of last year, with $91 million. Represented as individual contributions, her top contributors are primarily investment banking firms, and the top 2 industry sectors contributing were Finance/Insurance/Real Estate and Lawyers/Lobbyists, representing 25% of all money raised. There have been over 52,000 individual contributions to her campaign, and a variety of PAC's that acted on her behalf totaling about $746,000. Key groups supporting Clinton over any other candidate, including Republicans are Lobbyists, Commercial Banks, Health Professionals, Lawyers/Law Firms, Pharmaceuticals/Health Products, Real Estate, and Securities and Investment. The largest disparity of contributions to her vs. another Presidential candidate (both Parties) by percentage is from lobbyists, where she had 40% more ($227,585) than 2nd place lobby money recipient, John McCain; in dollar terms, the largest disparity was with 2nd place John Edwards, where she raised $1.436 million more than him from Lawyers/Law Firms.
Barack Obama was second place in the fundraising race as of the 3rd quarter, with $80 million. Represented as individual contributions, his top contributors are primarily investment banking firms, and the top 2 industry sectors contributing were Finance/Insurance/Real Estate and Other, which generally refers to individual contributions from the public or educational/public institutions; these two groups represent 23% of all money raised. There have been over 61,000 individual contributions to his campaign, and a variety of PAC's that acted on his behalf totaling almost $7,000. Key groups supporting Obama over any other candidate, including Republicans are Computer/Internet, Education, Retired, and TV/Movies/Music. The largest disparity of contributions to him vs. another Presidential candidate (both Parties) by percentage is from Education, where he had 22% ($472,296) more than 2nd place education money recipient, Hillary Clinton; in dollar terms, the largest disparity was with 2nd place Hillary Clinton, where he raised $816,117 more than her from the Retired.
John Edwards has raised $30 million as of the end of the 3rd quarter. Represented as individual contributions, his top contributor by far was Act Blue, and the top two industry sectors contributing were Lawyers/Lobbyists and Finance/Insurance/Real Estate (which barely edged out Ideology/Single Issue); these 3 groups represented 41% of all money raised (very top 2 represents 34%). There have been almost 22,000 individual contributions to his campaign, and no PAC money. Edwards was not the leader of all candidates in any one key support group in his fundraising; Edwards was 2nd behind Clinton in raising money from Lawyers/Law Firms, and was 3rd behind Obama and Clinton in raising money from TV/Movies/Music. John Edwards raised more money than any other candidate from Act Blue, raising $1,965,274.
There is much more notable information including data on specific companies within the industries and sectors that support the candidates. There is also some notable information about where the candidates earn and invest their personal money, which is pretty interesting too...though considered somewhat irrelevant. Edwards, the wealthiest of the candidates with approximately $54 million and a moderate risk investment portfolio, has his largest single equity position in the Fortress Investment Fund III, LP, and the majority of his other investments reside in Municipal and Government bonds. Clinton, the 2nd wealthiest of the 3 with approximately $40 million and with the most aggressive investment portfolio, has a number of largest single equity positions including Andarko Petroleum, Biogen, Cisco, GE, Home Depot, Johnson and Johnson, Merril Lynch, Microsoft, Texas Instruments, Time Warner, and Walt Disney. Obama, by far the least wealthy of the 3 with approximately $1.5 million and the most conservative investment portfolio has his largest equity position (a balanced mutual fund with 65% bonds/35% stocks) in the Vanguard Wellesley Income Fund Investor. Foundations and irrevocable trusts are not included in these numbers. (As a former Financial Advisor, I couldn't resist the analysis of their investment portfolios :-)).
So...this was about as brief and fair as can be considering the complexity of the nature of campaign financing. We did not go into PACs, 527s, or individual companies in depth due to the accuracy of information based on questionable reporting requirements. Until real efforts are made toward public financing or some other way that is in the best interest and representative of the American people (as opposed to our employers), it will remain complex and difficult to navigate. There is much more information to be found that was not included, so please visit opensecrets.org and the Federal Election Commission for further disclosures and information. If there is campaign financing information about these candidates that you think should be focused on, please post your information so you can share it with the group/voters. |
