For Whom Does Your Candidate Work?

Assuming anyone is actually reading my blog, they may (or may not) have noticed that there is a new link over there ---->, on the right hand side of the page. This new link is pretty handy. It goes to a web site called Open Secrets. Open Secrets is a site where you can get unbiased information on ALL of the members of the United States House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate and the persons who are currently running for national political offices (including President) and who donates to them. It also tells you how much they get and from whom. So let's take a look at the Presidential candidates while we're thinking about it.

I'll only go into the top 5 candidates from the Democratic and Republican parties*. Here we go:

The Democrats:
Hillary Clinton
According to Open Secrets, Senator Clinton has received a total of $63,075,927 in campaign contributions. This total includes $52,538,649 in "individual contributions", $532,946 from PACs (Political Action Committees) and $10,004,332 from "other" sources. Don't fret or start trying to draw any conspiracy-like conclusions. "Other" sources are considered to be anything other than PAC or individual contributions such as the interest drawn from a candidate's campaign bank account or loans obtained by the campaign. Either way, that's a LOT of money!

Barack Obama
Senator Obama has received a total of $58,912,520 ($58,605,160 individual, $4,975 in PAC contributions and $302,385). This is actually acceptable to me. It's acceptable because Senator Obama has only accepted a relatively small amount from these PACs. What isn't acceptable is that I actually heard Senator Obama state during a debate that he didn't accept PAC money. Guess the proverbial cat is out of the bag now, eh?

John Edwards
Former Vice-Presidential candidate John Edwards has accepted a total of $23,129,158 ($23,059,192 individual, $20 in PAC contributions and $69,946 from other sources). Yes, you read that correctly and it is NOT a typographical error. John Edwards only accepted $20 in PAC contributions! That is not only unheard of, it's downright impressive!

Bill Richardson
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson accepted $13,339,633 ($13,133,145 individual, $127,100 PAC, $2,300 in self financing and $77,088 from other sources). That's quite a bit of PAC money, but it isn't as bad as Clinton.

Chris Dodd
Hold onto your hats here, because something seems amiss. Senator Dodd accepted a total of $12,076,091 ($6,840,194 in individual, $458,194 from PACs and [get this] $4,777,703 from other sources). Alright, where did that $4,777,703 come from exactly? Did Senator Dodd actually take out a loan for this money? If so, do you really want a President who would do something so foolish as to take out a loan to finance a campaign? Sounds fiscally irresponsible to me.

On to the Republicans
Mitt Romney
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney accepted $44,432,350 ($34,757,439 individual, $223,000 PAC, $8,913,736 self financing and $538,175 from other sources). All I can think here is that it must be nice to be able to have almost $9 million dollars to just toss away like that.

Rudy Giuliani
Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has at his disposal $35,629,265 ($33,327,384 individual, $219,158 PAC and $2,082,723 other). Honestly, I don't like this guy AT ALL. I think that he is a scumbag who has essentially no qualifications for the office of President. He is riding that 9/11 wave for all he can. I find it shameful and disgusting that he thinks that it is perfectly acceptable to attempt to ride on the backs of the victims of 9/11 in order to gain access to the highest levels of power. Maybe that's just me.

John McCain
Senator and real-life hero John McCain has access to $25,328,694 ($24,531,070 individual, $402,312 PAC and $395,312 other). At this point, I don't think that Senator McCain is going to last much longer in this race. He basically shot himself in the foot with his ill-fated and ill-advised immigration reform bill.

Sam Brownback
Senator Sam Brownback only has $3,321,965 ($2,695,148 individual, $40,635 PAC, $25 self financing [?] and $586,157 other). Honestly, why does this guy make me sleepy? Maybe I should be praying for him to win so that Americans can get at least one good night's sleep every year. During the State of The Union address!

Ron Paul
Congressman Ron Paul has $3,009,997 ($3,002,818 individual, $4,074 PAC and $3,105 other). To be perfectly honest with you, this is my candidate of choice. The main reason for this choice being that my bullshit meter doesn't peg when he speaks. I think that he represents real change, which is what this country needs more than anything. But make your own decisions, please.

* All figures are as of July 30, 2007