Edwards/Kerry/Clark/Dean donor demographics

[windansea]

while perusing open secrets info on the donor demographics of various candidates this is what I found out.

Chimpster...as we all know...is fat with fat cat cash
73% of his donations are $2000+ donors...only 12% less than $200

Edwards rakes in 65% of his donations from $2000+ donors
but ONLY 3% from donations less than $200....

Kerry is a teeny bit more grassroots...with 55% and 12% respectively

Contrasting with the above...Clark is way more grassroots in terms of campaign funding, with 31% from $2000+ donors and 35% from less than $200 donors.

The Dean campaign leads the pack in with 56% in donations of less than $200 and only 13% from $2000+ donors.

[windansea]

1. kick n/t

[Bucky]

2. Wow. That's not too good looking for Bush.

But it's very flattering to Dean and Trippi. Most of their money came from little guys. I have to respect that, no matter how I feel about their proposals for how to govern the country. I still hope we beat them for the nomination and they join us in making Clark president...

But once this election and the Bush nightmare are over with, we must listen to what Dean's message is telling us. American must live up to its greatness or it will quit being America. Fifty six percent... DAYummmmm

[AP]

3. Edwards has second poorest donors & they give largest % of salary

I'd be proud of getting people who make 50K to committ the maximum. Kerry may be more grass rootsy, but his donors' average income is in the 70K region, 20K more than Edwards and at the opposite end of the spectrum.

[Bombtrack]

6. Peoples incomes are alot lower across the south than Kerry's base

which is the New England/midatlantic big metros.

Edwards supporters is basically alot of working class southernors seeded by his wealthier connections in the lawyer community

[AP]

15. Edwards got most of those 2000 donations in first quarter from

people who had a LOT of faith in him, and he was the first person to get donations from every state. His support is actually very broad. He raised more money than all other candidates combined in a couple of interesting states (TX, being one I remember).

[Bombtrack]

4. no question Edwards wouldn't be where he is w/out people like himself

Namely other wealthy lawyers. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. He only has had 6 years in politics to set up donor connections and networks.

I don't think there's anything wrong with that though.

Otherwise he couldn't compete with people who get automatic gay and anti-war money like Dean and people like Gephardt who get Labor money.

Most of the candidates have these niche constituancies that they get moeny from in addition to the regular dem donor money

And Edwards just happens to a more exclusive and wealthy group than the others.

[AP]

17. I think he's gettin a lot of money from young lawyers just

starting up in firms that aren't national, but are very regional -- where starting salaries might be just above 60K. I think that's one reason that number is low. I don't think those lawyers are rich yet. I think they just see a world disappearing in which they'll be able to reap the rewards of their labors and in which their potential clients are denied access to justice.

[windansea]

20. so JK is running on a "save the lawyers" platform

yikes!!

[efront]

29. You pegged me AP

I'm a young attorney who has donated several times to JRE. It's the first time I've contributed to a campaign and it has NOTHING to do with the fact Edwards was once an attorney. It's simply b/c he has the best ideas to better America.

[Myra]

5. I'm an ordinary folk, and I donate to Clark.

He's not owned by special interests.
He's not a bought and paid for pol.
He's a man of integrity.

[windansea]

7. good one Myra

I agree 100%

[AP]

18. On Democracy Now I heard a guy talking about Clark's integrity:

He said last summer Clark was simultaneously (1) stirring up anxiety about airport security in the course of a gig on TV, (2) lobbying the federal government for contracts of a company which provided security services for airports, and (3) raising money for a presidential run, and "the public only knew about two of those activities, and that's a problem."

[aquanut]

22. Are you OK with airport security?

I still think it stinks. I would much rather have had the money that went to finance the Iraq War be used on homeland security.

[windansea]

23. me too n/t

[AP]

24. I'd like to know the truth about it, and I'm not sure if I trust

getting the truth from CNN and Clark when Clark's using his platform there to discuss something in which he has a fiduciary interest.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

8. I bet you'll see a big swing in those numbers for Kerry now.

He raised a lot of money early on from traditional Democratic donors, while most of the Internet small donations were going to Dean. Now that people are seeing that he is the man to beat Bush his online fundraising has skyrocketed.

[Jerseycoa]

11. Kerry gets the bank nt

[joshcryer]

9. It's amazing how much money goes to Dean.

People really fucking believe in that man, no matter how much you hate him.

[Jerseycoa]

10. Even today with all of their money gone up in smoke

They still believe.

[joshcryer]

19. So what does that say?

Really... what does that say? Do you think you're being insulting?

[Jerseycoa]

21. No insult intended nt

[Leilani]

12. I think it just goes to show

that Dean & Clark have the most grassroots support, & are the 2 least accepted by the Establishment.

[windansea]

13. yes

amazing that Clark is labeled a republican voting lobbyist by Kerry when you look at the demographics of their support

[faithfulcitizen]

14. Amen!

And what's disheartening to me, it that right now we're witnessing the people's voices not being heard. It's the insiders and those with the insider loot.

:puke:

I have a lot of respect for the Dean campaign, as it is as Clark's is, the voice of the people. Clark & Dean have national campaigns, sorry but Kerry & Edwards do not.

We've been working our tail off here for ballot access, and we're almost done. After months of standing in frigid temps, getting snarled at by repub's, & seeing the occasional Dean supporter while making our rounds, I have never, ever, seen 1, not 1 Kerry person. (And if they're around, you'd see them.) We know all of the Dean people and vice versa. I met a fellow from the Edwards campaign for the first time in December at a Democratic party. We had 3 people collecting signatures for Clark and Dean had about the same. The Edwards guy told us he had been collecting since March and there's no way he's gonna make the ballot. and "I wish he'd just drop out already." I was also told that Edwards won't be on two state ballots, can't remember which. Being able to get a candidate on the ballot by collecting petitions is a good sign of strong grassroots support. Sad to see the media hype and insiders driving this process....

[windansea]

16. hang in there

this thing ain't over by a long shot...and keep up the good work for Clark...a candidate WORTH working your tail off for

:kick:

[TexasSissy]

25. I thought there was a cap on donations of $2,000, so there

couldn't be any one donor who contributes more than $2,000 (if a candidate participates in the federal matching funds thing). Correct? If so, then Edwards' contributors did not average over $2K each, correct?

[windansea]

26. that's how they list them here

not sure why

http://www.opensecrets.org/presidential/donordems.asp?format=&sortby=2

[molly]

27. There is a 2,000 cap - even for family members

also, candidates cannot accept funds from corporations in a federal election.

[Ivote]

28. I'M with Myra

poor living on SS but give what I can. My vote counts just as much as any $2000.00 contributer