The Wall Street Journal
Financial Industry Pours on Campaign Donations
Democrats by Far Receive Larger Portion of Funds
By CHRISTOPHER COOPER
April 11, 2008; Page A6
WASHINGTON -- Hard times may have settled over Wall Street, but campaign cash from banks and securities firms has flooded Washington as Congress and the White House gird for a regulatory revamp of the financial industry. The Democrats' 2006 retaking of Congress and perhaps the heated presidential race have sharply tilted Wall Street donations toward Democrats, though nearly every politician and both major parties are recipients of this largesse.
Data gathered by the Center For Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan Washington group whose opensecrets.org Web site tracks political giving, reckons that the banking-and-investment industry is giving nearly twice as much to Democrats as to Republicans in the 2008 cycle. Based on records from 2007 through January, the center calculates that the Democratic Party has raked in about $15.1 million from employees and political action committees of banks and investment companies, compared to $7.7 million for Republicans. The numbers for March, a traditionally heavy month for campaign fund-raisers, have yet to be reported. In the 2004 cycle, the center said, the campaign cash was more equally distributed, with Republicans hauling in $22 million compared with $19.5 million for Democrats.
The race for president follows this pattern, with Democratic candidates Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois greatly outraising Arizona Sen. John McCain, the pending Republican nominee. Sen. McCain raised about $3 million from employees of securities and investment firms through February compared with $6.6 million for Sen. Clinton and $6.7 million for Sen. Obama. But Sen. McCain may be able to close the gap: According to names released by the campaigns and gathered by Whitehouseforsale.org, a research Web site maintained by the nonprofit, nonpartisan group Public Citizen, Sen. McCain counts an army of Wall Street executives among his most prolific fund-raisers, suggesting he will be able to tap them in the future.
What is unclear is whether Sen. McCain will need Wall Street cash for the general election. The campaign has begun hinting that it may forgo private campaign donations for the general election and opt for public financing instead. In recent days, the McCain campaign has stepped up demands that Sen. Obama, the current Democratic frontrunner, do the same. But despite an earlier pledge, Sen. Obama's campaign now says it will likely wait until after the Democratic nominee is fixed before deciding how it would bankroll a general-election run.
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In all, Public Citizen identifies 66 fund-raisers and bundlers in the financial industry who have signed up to help Sen. McCain compared with 50 for Sen. Clinton and 76 for Sen. Obama. These mega-money fund-raisers are often called bundlers and often raise in excess of $100,000 for the candidates they support, generally by tapping co-workers and friends for donations.
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