The Washington Post's "In the Loop" column today takes a look at a topic we've covered several times here: the astronomical sums raised in the presidential race and how large donors still provide the bulk of the funding to all the presidential candidates (yes, even Barack Obama).
Obama's success in recruiting small donors is admirable and is a good thing for our democracy and engaging citizens in the process. His rivals, Hillary Clinton and John McCain, have been fairly successful on that front themselves. But in thinking about who is funding the campaigns and who is thus critical to each candidates' success, there's no denying the facts.
So far in this primary election season -- in 2007 and in January 2008 -- the presidential candidates have raised a combined $542 million from individuals, according to the nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute. That's nearly double the previous record of $285.7 million raised during the primaries in the same 13-month period in 2003 and 2004.
Remarkably, the proportion of large vs. small donations has remained pretty close despite the huge overall increase. Contributions of $1,000 or more have accounted for 58 percent of individual giving in the latest 13-month period, the institute said. That compares with 64 percent during that same period of the previous presidential contest.
Small donations of $200 or less, fueled largely by the Internet, accounted for 28 percent of individual contributions during the most recent 13 months. In the same period four years ago, small contributions accounted for 23 percent, a change of just five percentage points.
UPDATE: The Campaign Finance Institute takes a closer look at the very recent trends--
January 2008--and found a further rise in small donors, which is great, although they still don't fund half of any of the campaigns.
You are not logged in.
In order to post a comment, you must be logged in. If you have a member account, please log in to comment.
If not, you can make an account just by filling out the form below. It's quick and free.
