OpenSecrets Top Contributors updated

[Chibioz]

I noticed that the top contributor numbers that several articles and threads have been quoting were based off the Q3 numbers in which Google was the top contributor. The Q4 top contributor numbers are up on the OpenSecrets site now. The military dominates the top now, with employees of Google still being the top corporate contributors.

US Army $68,817
US Navy $57,076
US Air Force $52,371
Google Inc $51,382
Microsoft Corp $44,479
US Postal Service $31,054
Lockheed Martin $26,754
Boeing Co $24,388
AT&T Inc $22,398
IBM Corp $19,177
Verizon Communications $18,399
Hewlett-Packard $18,014
Apple Inc $17,314
Intel Corp $16,751
Northrop Grumman $16,067
General Electric $15,788
General Dynamics $15,584
Cisco Systems $14,702
US Dept of Defense $14,338
Wachovia Corp $14,231

Source:
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.asp?id=N00005906&cycle=2008

[RoyalShock]

US Dept of Defense $14,338

Interesting. :D

[Austin]

This alone holds a lot of weight. I'm glad the media talks about these things. :rolleyes:

[tropicangela]

This alone holds a lot of weight. I'm glad the media talks about these things. :rolleyes:

They are in such denial... the media, and other people in this population... regular people in denial... they say that donations mean nothing...

[colecrowe]

thanks for the update...


http://www.ronpaul2008.com/press-releases/211/q4-fec-reports-ron-paul-receives-more-military-donations-than-all-other-republicans-combined/
February 3, 2008 11:45 am EST
Q4 FEC Reports: Ron Paul Receives More Military Donations Than All Other Republicans Combined
Total military donations nearly as much as the total of all other remaining candidates - Republican and Democrat

ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA – According to newly released FEC reports, Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul has received more military donations than the other three remaining Republican candidates combined.
“The latest numbers make it clear: the troops support Ron Paul,” said Ron Paul campaign chairman Kent Snyder. “Dr. Paul has worked his entire career working for veterans, and has many awards and endorsements due to his dedication to their cause.”
A search of the FEC database by employer reveals that Dr. Paul has received 1160 donations from military donors, nearly triple that of John McCain, and more than McCain, Mitt Romney, and Mike Huckabee combined.
Dr. Paul’s total military donations of $249 thousand are almost as much as the $260 thousand of combined donations received by the other five remaining candidates.
Congressman Paul is no stranger to military support. Former president Ronald Reagan once said, “Ron Paul is one of the outstanding leaders fighting for a stronger national defense. As a former Air Force officer, he knows well the needs of our armed forces, and he always puts them first. We need to keep him fighting for our country!”
According to the FEC reports, these are the total number and amount of military donations for each of the presidential candidates*:
Ron Paul: 1160 $249k
John McCain: 438 $83k
Mike Huckabee: 126 $37k
Mitt Romney: 126 $24k
Barack Obama: 443 $76k
Hillary Clinton: 154 $41k
*Methodology: Searched FEC reports for occupation/employer contains: "Army" "Navy" "USN" "USAF" "Air Force" "Marine" "USMC" "Coast Guard" "USCG" then removed duplicates and non-military occupations (i.e. "marine repair")

[colecrowe]

Good email to send to people:

Ron Paul Receives More Military Donations Than All Other Republicans Combined

Third Quarter in a row!
Ron Paul leads ALL '08 candidates with over one-fourth of military contributions for Q2 (http://thespinfactor.com/thetruth/2007/07/17/ron-paul-leads-all-08-candidates-with-one-third-of-military-contributions-for-q2/)
Ron Paul receives the most military donations among Republicans AGAIN in Q3 (http://thespinfactor.com/thetruth/2007/10/15/ron-paul-receives-the-most-military-donations-among-republicans-again-in-q3/)

http://www.ronpaul2008.com/press-releases/211/q4-fec-reports-ron-paul-receives-more-military-donations-than-all-other-republicans-combined/
February 3, 2008 11:45 am EST
Q4 FEC Reports: Ron Paul Receives More Military Donations Than All Other Republicans Combined
Total military donations nearly as much as the total of all other remaining candidates - Republican and Democrat
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA – According to newly released FEC reports, Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul has received more military donations than the other three remaining Republican candidates combined.
"The latest numbers make it clear: the troops support Ron Paul," said Ron Paul campaign chairman Kent Snyder. "Dr. Paul has worked his entire career working for veterans, and has many awards and endorsements due to his dedication to their cause."
A search of the FEC database by employer reveals that Dr. Paul has received 1160 donations from military donors, nearly triple that of John McCain, and more than McCain, Mitt Romney, and Mike Huckabee combined.
Dr. Paul's total military donations of $249 thousand are almost as much as the $260 thousand of combined donations received by the other five remaining candidates.
Congressman Paul is no stranger to military support. Former president Ronald Reagan once said, "Ron Paul is one of the outstanding leaders fighting for a stronger national defense. As a former Air Force officer, he knows well the needs of our armed forces, and he always puts them first. We need to keep him fighting for our country!"
According to the FEC reports, these are the total number and amount of military donations for each of the presidential candidates*:
Ron Paul: 1160 $249k
John McCain: 438 $83k
Mike Huckabee: 126 $37k
Mitt Romney: 126 $24k
Barack Obama: 443 $76k
Hillary Clinton: 154 $41k
*Methodology: Searched FEC reports for occupation/employer contains: "Army" "Navy" "USN" "USAF" "Air Force" "Marine" "USMC" "Coast Guard" "USCG" then removed duplicates and non-military occupations (i.e. "marine repair")


* * * * * * * * * *
Compare Ron Paul's Donors to John McCain's Donors! From OpenSecrets.org:
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.asp?id=N00005906&cycle=2008

HOW TO READ THIS CHART: This chart lists the top donors to this candidate in the 2008 election cycle. The organizations themselves did not donate, rather the money came from the organization's PAC, its individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families. Organization totals include subsidiaries and affiliates.
RON PAUL (R)
Top Contributors US Army $68,817 US Navy $57,076 US Air Force $52,371 Google Inc $51,382 Microsoft Corp (http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.asp?ID=D000000115) $44,479 US Postal Service $31,054 Lockheed Martin (http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.asp?ID=D000000104) $26,754 Boeing Co (http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.asp?ID=D000000100) $24,388 AT&T Inc (http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.asp?ID=D000000076) $22,398 IBM Corp $19,177 Verizon Communications (http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.asp?ID=D000000079) $18,399 Hewlett-Packard $18,014 Apple Inc $17,314 Intel Corp $16,751 Northrop Grumman $16,067 General Electric (http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.asp?ID=D000000125) $15,788 General Dynamics (http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.asp?ID=D000000165) $15,584 Cisco Systems $14,702 US Dept of Defense $14,338 Wachovia Corp $14,231

JOHN MCCAIN (R)
Top Contributors Merrill Lynch (http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.asp?ID=D000000108) $155,950 Citigroup Inc (http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.asp?ID=D000000071) $153,362 Blank Rome LLP $143,501 Greenberg Traurig Llp $130,587 Goldman Sachs (http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.asp?ID=D000000085) $85,252 Univision Communications $82,000 IDT Corp $79,250 Bank of New York Mellon $74,000 Bridgewater Assoc $72,100 MGM Mirage $70,400 Irvine Co Apartment Community $66,100 JP Morgan Chase & Co (http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.asp?ID=D000000103) $65,485 Credit Suisse Group (http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.asp?ID=D000000134) $65,000 Pinnacle West Capital $64,000 Lehman Brothers $61,150 Wachovia Corp $58,675 Cisco Systems $56,650 Morgan Stanley (http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.asp?ID=D000000106) $55,701 Blackstone Group $47,950 MacAndrews & Forbes $45,000
Check this one out:
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/indus.asp?id=N00006424&cycle=2008
Love the "Lobbyist" line on there (isn't on Paul's!):
JOHN MCCAIN (R)
Top Industries 1
Retired
$5,021,106
2
Lawyers/Law Firms
$2,508,185
3
Securities & Investment
$2,134,033
4
Real Estate
$1,900,616
5
Misc Finance
$830,965
6
Health Professionals
$713,952
7
Business Services
$663,788
8
Commercial Banks
$620,673
9
Misc Business
$463,110
10
TV/Movies/Music
$442,366
11
Lobbyists
$416,321
12
Insurance
$308,662
13
Education
$295,541
14
Computers/Internet
$294,347
15
Misc Manufacturing & Distributing
$285,608
16
Civil Servants/Public Officials
$258,390
17
Construction Services
$230,183
18
Oil & Gas
$229,958
19
General Contractors
$218,918
20
Accountants
$209,775

RON PAUL (R)
Top Industries 1
Retired
$958,499
2
Computers/Internet
$639,571
3
Health Professionals
$472,545
4
Misc Business
$435,552
5
Education
$290,567
6
Other
$267,382
7
Real Estate
$263,608
8
Business Services
$257,718
9
Misc Finance
$245,636
10
Securities & Investment
$225,185
11
Lawyers/Law Firms
$204,095
12
Civil Servants/Public Officials
$187,931
13
Construction Services
$141,044
14
General Contractors
$134,925
15
Misc Manufacturing & Distributing
$122,504
16
Printing & Publishing
$112,456
17
Hospitals/Nursing Homes
$108,938
18
TV/Movies/Music
$100,863
19
Oil & Gas
$82,746
20
Commercial Banks
$81,642


* * * * * * * * * * http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3601542
Obama, Paul net most military workers' campaign donations

By Fredreka Schouten, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON

Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Ron Paul have little in common politically, except their opposition to the Iraq war.
Both top a new list of presidential candidates receiving campaign contributions from people who work for the four branches of the military and National Guard, according to a study released Thursday by the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics.
Obama, an Illinois senator, brought in more donations from this group than any White House contender from either party. The Democrat announced Wednesday his plan to withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2008.
Paul, a Texas congressman and the only GOP presidential hopeful who supports an immediate troop withdrawal, comes in second.
"Paul and Obama are talking straight to soldiers, and what they are saying is resonating," said Larnell Exum, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, who gave $500 to Obama. Exum, who works for the Army as a congressional liaison, is a Democrat but voted for George Bush in 1992.
The center tallied money from donors who list the Air Force, Army, Marines, Navy and National Guard as an employer. Overall, these donations are miniscule: Obama got 44 contributions worth about $27,000 and Paul 23 for about $19,300. Republican John McCain, an Iraq war supporter and Vietnam prisoner of war, was third with about $18,500 from 32 donors.
In 2004, military personnel contributed $1.2 million to presidential and congressional candidates, the center said. This year, those donations are about $200,000.
The analysis also found that military personnel have shifted their donations. In 2002, the center said Democrats received 23% of contributions from military workers; Republicans got 77%. This year, 40% of their donations have gone to Democrats running for Congress and president. The GOP got 59%.
The donation patterns "would suggest that those who wear the uniform want change," said Joe Davis, spokesman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Bruce Altschuler, a political scientist at the State University of New York at Oswego and a Vietnam veteran, said, "The whole country has been shifting to Democrats, and the military, in some ways, is a microcosm of society."
Spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Obama is pleased to have the support of those "who have sacrificed so much."
Paul spokesman Jesse Benton said the military support makes sense. The congressman "wants to get (troops) out of playing the world's policemen and get them home," he said.
Altschuler cautioned against reading too much into the early contributions, particularly in such small amounts. "These figures could look very different in a few months."

[Banana]

What about this article (http://lonestartimes.com/2008/02/05/do-the-troops-support-ron-paul/)?

It seems well-reasoned but maybe I'm just ignorant....

Would hate to think that veterans aren't turning out for Ron.

[Agora]

CNN will do?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amejLwsiTEo

[mczerone]

(i.e. "marine repair")

If this is something anyone is still quoting from - this should be "e.g.", meaning "for example", not "i.e." as in "in other words".

Sorry to nit-pick, but want all efforts to look professional.

[Banana]

CNN will do?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amejLwsiTEo

Thanks for the link. Unfortunately, it wasn't captioned so I had no idea what they were talking about. However there was a screenshot listing donations from "Active military" with Center for Responsible Policy as a source.... Which is actually same site quoted by the Lone Star (opensecrets.org), and the numbers are different.

Anyone have an idea of whether those donors were actually active members and why numbers are different?

[Agora]

What about this article (http://lonestartimes.com/2008/02/05/do-the-troops-support-ron-paul/)?

It seems well-reasoned but maybe I'm just ignorant....

Would hate to think that veterans aren't turning out for Ron.
:o you can CHANGE that...here you go for a start
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/search.asp?txtCID=N00005906&name=%28all%29&employ=%28any+employer%29&state=%28all%29&zip=%28any+zip%29&submit=OK&amt=a&sort=A

[phree]

CNN will do?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amejLwsiTEo

Notice anything funny about that clip?

Hint:
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q5/88888888up/Hang.jpg

[Agora]

graphic designers/editors did a great job : )http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/1875/ztubexh0.jpg and more...

[Banana]

:o you can CHANGE that...here you go for a start
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/search.asp?txtCID=N00005906&name=%28all%29&employ=%28any+employer%29&state=%28all%29&zip=%28any+zip%29&submit=OK&amt=a&sort=A

Picking Defense as the sector, and listing who got most from defense, they say Ron Paul is only #7, with 44 thousands dollars. The problem is that this is only for those who donated more than $200.

Trying to reproduce the results as explained in the press release (http://www.ronpaul2008.com/press-releases/211/q4-fec-reports-ron-paul-receives-more-military-donations-than-all-other-republicans-combined/) does seem to substantiate the claim (didn't do math and didn't know of all possible terms), and some of donors list themselves as "infantryman" or some variation of active-duty.

But the blog I linked above says it is illegal for active duty to donate, and therefore the donors had to be civilians working for Armed Forces?!?

So I read the links the blog used to support the assertions that active duty cannot donate. To my surprise, the link said just the exact opposite (is there no integrity on author's part?!)

So yeah, I think that debunk the article.

Thanks!

[Banana]

When I told a resigned Republican that RP got most in troops donation and show him the methodology used to arrive at the result, the republican said two things that I couldn't quite answer... Help?

1) He only got 1100 donations, or 0.005% of the military. I think FEC only counts those who donated more than $200, but no idea of assessing the popular support within the troops. Do we have other way to measure the support?

2) Doing the math, we got less than the figure reported from PCC. I think we may be missing some variants:

Keywords used:

Army
Navy
Air Force
Marine (then excluding marine occupations)
Coast Guard
National Guard
USAF

???

[CurtisLow]

I noticed that the top contributor numbers that several articles and threads have been quoting were based off the Q3 numbers in which Google was the top contributor. Google still being the top corporate contributors.
]




I found out today that Google is a member of CFR. Never knew that...

[Banana]

When I told a resigned Republican that RP got most in troops donation and show him the methodology used to arrive at the result, the republican said two things that I couldn't quite answer... Help?

1) He only got 1100 donations, or 0.005% of the military. I think FEC only counts those who donated more than $200, but no idea of assessing the popular support within the troops. Do we have other way to measure the support?

2) Doing the math, we got less than the figure reported from PCC. I think we may be missing some variants:

Keywords used:

Army
Navy
Air Force
Marine (then excluding marine occupations)
Coast Guard
National Guard
USAF

???

Anyone?

[Banana]

When I told a resigned Republican that RP got most in troops donation and show him the methodology used to arrive at the result, the republican said two things that I couldn't quite answer... Help?

1) He only got 1100 donations, or 0.005% of the military. I think FEC only counts those who donated more than $200, but no idea of assessing the popular support within the troops. Do we have other way to measure the support?

2) Doing the math, we got less than the figure reported from PCC. I think we may be missing some variants:

Keywords used:

Army
Navy
Air Force
Marine (then excluding marine occupations)
Coast Guard
National Guard
USAF

???

Trolling for a response. :D

[sratiug]

When I told a resigned Republican that RP got most in troops donation and show him the methodology used to arrive at the result, the republican said two things that I couldn't quite answer... Help?

1) He only got 1100 donations, or 0.005% of the military. I think FEC only counts those who donated more than $200, but no idea of assessing the popular support within the troops. Do we have other way to measure the support?

2) Doing the math, we got less than the figure reported from PCC. I think we may be missing some variants:

Keywords used:

Army
Navy
Air Force
Marine (then excluding marine occupations)
Coast Guard
National Guard
USAF

???


Ask him why McCain can't even come close to Ron Paul's military donations after all his bluster and visits to Iraq and a hundred times the media exposure. Tell him not to be a moron, most people don't want to - quoting McCain "waste" their lives in Iraq when their wives and children need them at home.


And refer him to this story.
http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/Fort_Hood_soliders_breaking_the_silence_on_war_in_ Iraq

[Banana]

Righteous. I love the points.

Thanks! :)

[Malakai0]

They are in such denial... the media, and other people in this population... regular people in denial... they say that donations mean nothing...

Donations mean everything, unless they don't like the candidate.

The first 2 quarters of 07 all the media talked about was money raised. But once RP started winning they dropped the money raised completely.

Not once did I ever see a chart of Q4 07 showing RP in the lead in donations by a huge margin. They won't talk about mccains money raised at all since it all just sort of came from nowhere (lobbyists ect)

[austin944]

The Open Secrets web site says that Ron Paul has zero debt in his campaign, while all of the other active candidates have some debt. John McCain has more debt than cash on hand right now. I like Ron Paul's fiscal conservatism! :)