Good Neighbors
As my regular readers know, I moved my family from one state to another last summer. It is a college town, but with a surprisingly even mix of liberals and conservatives at the college. I am sure this will come as a big surprise, but I enjoy discussing politics when I have the opportunity. In my small community, I have yet to meet one strong John Kerry fan. I have met many people who may vote for him, but they will do so because they dislike President Bush, not out of respect for Senator Kerry.

Boots & Sabers found a tool that allowed me to see how well my experience represents my community. By simply entering my address, the Fundrace 2004 robot looks up the public donation records of everyone near me. If you check on your own neighbors, and I know you will, be patient. Even in the wee hours of the night, it took a few minutes for a response.

I was surprised by the results. There were many more donations for Bush than for the Democrats. This was not that surprising, most of the Republican money comes from small donations while the majority of Democratic funding comes from special interest groups (e.g., unions) and liberal millionaires. In addition, there were quite a few donations for various Democratic nominees (Wesley Clark, Howard Dean, John Edwards, and Dick Gephardt).

The surprise was that the nearest person who donated to John Kerry lived over 75 miles away from my house. I live in a battleground state. This does not say much for the enthusiasm of John Kerry supporters. It does improve the already high opinion I hold of my neighbors.

 
 
Comments

This is my favorite of the ones "near" me.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
College Student
Not employed

Dick Gephardt
$2,000

(I removed the name and address)

I wish I could have had an extra $2000 when I was in college!

BTW - there were a grand total of 14 Kerry supporters listed out of 350. If my math is correct that is about 4% of all contributors supporting Senator Kerry.

Posted by: khobrah | 03/19/2004 - 06:58 AM

There were a few college students near me that also made $2,000 donations (all to Democrats if that means anything).

My guess is that their parents were using their children to bypass the $2,000 cap on donations. The cap is per person, not per household.

Posted by: Don Quixote | 03/19/2004 - 11:17 AM

One caveat which I should have put in my original post.

The data is accurate up to the end of 2003. I believe the FEC only requires quarterly updates, so the site will probably be updated sometime in April.

I expect the number of Kerry supporters to go up then. The only question is will the numbers be a sharp rise or a small rise. It will be interesting to see how Kerry's 2004 numbers compare to Bush's 2004 numbers.

Posted by: Don Quixote | 03/19/2004 - 03:30 PM

"Federal election law requires that contributions from minors meet the following three criteria: (a) the decision to contribute must have been made knowingly and voluntarily by the minor: (b) the contributed funds must have been owned or controlled exclusively by the minor (e.g. income earned by the child, proceeds of a trust for which the child is the beneficiary, or a savings account opened and maintained exclusively in the child's name); AND (c) the contributed funds cannot have been given to the minor for the purpose of making a contribution."

Posted by: Mike M | 03/19/2004 - 09:08 PM

Mike,
Thanks for the info. Do you know what the law says about adults? (Most college students are not minors, so the law you quoted would not apply to them).

Posted by: Don Quixote | 03/19/2004 - 10:03 PM

Interesting tool. I noticed though, that a cursory check in Winston-Salem, where I live, that most of the John Edwards donations were by lawyers. However, the huge majority are to George Bush. Maybe this is good news?

Posted by: Candy | 03/21/2004 - 09:30 AM

I was amazed to see the unemployed person donating 2000 to Kerry. But then, there was a homemaker who donated 2000 to Bush, so I guess I shouldn't complain too much. The good news (for me) is that the number of Bush donations looked to be at least twice, maybe 3 times the number of other donations

Posted by: fiwit | 03/31/2004 - 12:13 AM
 
 
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