The Command Post - 2004 US Presidential Election

March 19, 2004

Kerry | Kerry and Local Donations

I live in a 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 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 to be precise).

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. If the lack of local enthusiasm for Kerry’s campaign continues through November, he will have an uproad battle to win this state.

Posted by Admiral Quixote at March 19, 2004 03:39 AM | TrackBack

Comments

I live in the heart of Any Body But Bush Counrty. Hell, my mayor is a lesbian (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Yet here in the deepest of blue zones, out of the first 100 or so search returns Kerry only has about six donors, less than even Bush who has about 12.

The other 80 or so are split between Gephardt, Dean, and Edwards.

Very Interesting.

Posted by: Mike van Winkle at March 19, 2004 08:33 AM

one important consideration is how recent these records are. The level of support for Dean leads me to think that records from this quarter have not been entered yet (which would include post-meltdown contributions)

Posted by: Mike van Winkle at March 19, 2004 08:39 AM

I just found this on the website:” All calculations are based on records filed with the FEC of contributions by all individuals
totalling more than $200 to a single campaign through December 31, 2003.”

Posted by: Mike van Winkle at March 19, 2004 08:41 AM

This thing is really fun! I live in a liberal section of SE Denver. I had to go through about six pages, principally of Deans, Clarks and Bushes, before I came to a single Kerry. I think there were about 4 Kerrys on the 20 or so pages I looked at. The only one I found that gave the max (2,000 and then 2,000) to Kerry was “Frank Azar,” who is a local lawyer who covers the tv with obnoxious commercials.

Posted by: samuelv at March 19, 2004 11:07 AM

I believe the FEC requires quarterly reports. I’m not sure how long it will take for the first quarter of 2004 to be posted, but my guess is that we should be able to access this infomation sometime in April.

Posted by: Admiral Quixote at March 19, 2004 12:20 PM

Wow, this is really interesting. I can’t believe how many government employees and school employees have donated to Dean. I also can’t believe how many lawyers have donated to Edwards.

Oh, wait… did I say “I can’t believe?” I meant “I’m not surprised.”

Anyway, I think the wackiest thing I’ve found so far is a City employee who contributed $1,000 to LaRouche!

Posted by: cornflux at March 20, 2004 01:42 AM

Stupid things Kerry says

Increasingly bizarre pronouncements erupting from Kerry’s angry mouth. Maybe the leftists have thrown angry Howard Dean overboard too soon?

-attack against President Bush for breaking his promise to increase funding for soldiers and veterans and failing to provide them with the best available weapons systems.

Is Kerry banking on the possibility that normal people are ignorant of his own record and President Bush’s?
Kerry to misrepresent Bush as being soft on defense and promote himself as the caretaker of national security is like Walter Mondale running as a tax-cutter and depicting Ronald Reagan as a tax-raiser. Perhaps Kerry’s strategy is that if you say something stupid enough, a significant portion of the people will believe it.

Senator Kerry: On those days you are against the war in Iraq, could you tell us how you reconcile your support of President Clinton’s bombing of Serbia? Are we supposed to forget that you supported the resolution authorizing the attack on Iraq having access to the same intelligence data that Bush had?

As for your record compared to the president’s in supporting the troops, how do you explain that Mr. Bush has increased spending on veterans by some 8 percent per year and defense spending by 10 percent per year?

And do you expect us to overlook that you, Senator, voted against the $87 billion supplemental appropriation to support our soldiers and finance the rebuilding and democratization of Iraq? (I know you said you voted both for it and against it.)

Flip-flop

As for your complaint about the loss of life with no end in sight, Senator, are you unaware that it is a time-consuming enterprise to rebuild a war-torn nation, and by post-World War II standards it is still early in the game?

Do you refuse to acknowledge that international terrorists committed to disrupting democracies and the general advance of civilization have converged on Iraq hell-bent on preventing its transition to democracy?

Are you really saying that our troops in Iraq would sustain fewer casualties if you were in office or that you could bring them home more quickly without jeopardizing the stability of the new regime?

please don’t tell us again that you would have voted against the war resolution in the first place if you hadn’t been misled. Despite being untrue, it is completely irrelevant because our troops are there now, and even you have stated that if we withdraw too soon, it will create an unstable state in Iraq and represent a setback in our War on Terror. And you’ve also urged Spain’s prime minister-elect, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, to stay the course.

What magic wand, then, would you use to insulate our troops from injury and bring them home faster? Maybe you would take away the body armor and weapons systems you defiantly voted against? Or treat the terrorist attacks in Iraq as a law enforcement matter? Or talk your other dovish European leader friends into undovishly committing their troops?

The truth is that Senator Kerry has no idea how we could possibly sustain fewer casualties and still accomplish our military goals in Iraq. His criticisms are manufactured and bogus because he knows President Bush is pursuing the only responsible course of action for the Iraqis, for the world and for the security interests of the United States.

But that won’t keep Kerry from trotting out the same old antiwar hymnal he sang from on his return from Vietnam, because that seems to be the only way he can make himself relevant to this debate.

With every passing day Kerry’s endless criticisms of the president’s foreign policy seem more desperate, hysterical and indefensible. I just can’t help but wonder whether a substantial number of Democratic honchos and voters aren’t beginning to feel an eerie sensation of buyers’ remorse. How could they not?

Posted by: Fat Guy at March 20, 2004 03:55 AM

My area seems split in half between Bush and Lieberman, with a sprinkling of Dean and Edwards donors. One Kerry donor who gave three times.