By Tim Collins
Barack Obama has been a much maligned political figure. Almost from day one of his administration opponents have been attacking him for one thing or another. They went after his birth certificate, called him a socialist, communist, Marxist, etc. He has signed countless executive orders, bypassed Congress, and has been caught in the Fast & Furious scandal.
Even with all of his flaws, Obama enjoys strong support from liberals. His “Truth Team” has been hard at work spinning stories as best as they can. They have worked to shut down websites critical of the administration.
It is our duty as journalists to put the President under the microscope and examine him and his top donors. There is one thing that the President has done that his rival, Mitt Romney, hasn’t; release his tax information to the public. Even though he has been very transparent on his taxes, what is really hiding in the dark corners of his campaign donor information?
So let’s look at the top industry donors first:
| Rank | Industry | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Retired | $23,370,135 |
| 2 | Lawyers/Law Firms | $13,812,376 |
| 3 | Education | $7,604,334 |
| 4 | Health Professionals | $4,286,894 |
| 5 | Business Services | $4,080,765 |
| 6 | Securities & Investment | $3,811,521 |
| 7 | Computers/Internet | $3,544,907 |
| 8 | Women’s Issues | $3,520,035 |
| 9 | TV/Movies/Music | $3,355,484 |
| 10 | Civil Servants/Public Officials | $3,045,653 |
| 11 | Real Estate | $3,012,933 |
| 12 | Misc Business | $2,988,706 |
| 13 | Printing & Publishing | $2,147,912 |
| 14 | Misc Finance | $1,989,358 |
| 15 | Other | $1,598,302 |
| 16 | Hospitals/Nursing Homes | $1,447,494 |
| 17 | Democratic/Liberal | $1,121,088 |
| 18 | Non-Profit Institutions | $1,103,447 |
| 19 | Construction Services | $1,037,605 |
| 20 | Misc Manufacturing & Distributing | $837,338 |
Lawyers and law firms rank up there with retired, you have education, but did you also notice Securities and Investment? Remember our report on Romney yesterday?
Now a look at top donors:
| Microsoft Corp | $418,845 |
| University of California | $411,386 |
| Dla Piper | $314,977 |
| Google Inc | $303,225 |
| Harvard University | $276,824 |
| Sidley Austin LLP | $269,681 |
| US Government | $256,099 |
| Comcast Corp | $216,156 |
| Stanford University | $212,850 |
| Time Warner | $191,834 |
| Skadden, Arps et al | $181,253 |
| Kaiser Permanente | $174,692 |
| US Dept of State | $164,617 |
| Columbia University | $163,148 |
| National Amusements Inc | $154,517 |
| Wells Fargo | $147,707 |
| University of Chicago | $145,307 |
| Morgan & Morgan | $140,395 |
| IBM Corp | $131,161 |
| Jones Day | $127,756 |
Now let’s look at something very interesting with this chart. Did you notice that Microsoft, Google, Comcast, and Time Warner all donated to the campaign? Why is this interesting? It’s interesting because combined, these companies are the majority of the internet. Google is an internet gate keeper of sorts. It’s the most popular search engine with millions using it everyday. Comcast and Time Warner not only own cable companies, but are also internet service providers. “Big deal”, you might say. Well, it is a big deal. These cable companies have “start pages” that their users see as soon as they start their web browser. Many of these users stick with these start pages for quick news updates, these companies can control just what is posted on the start page and how it relates to the President.
Now just wait a second, who’s that lurking near the bottom? Wells Fargo, guess they wanted to hedge their bets.
When it comes to Super PACs, Romney clearly has a huge advantage. Our information tells us that only recently there has been a spike in the amount of Super PAC funding, but Romney continues to dwarf all Obama Super PACs. Super PACs supporting Romney have spent nearly $8mil at their peak while Super PACs supporting Obama have spent nearly $3.5mil at their peak.
Now for another interesting peak at donors in the Financial, Insurance, and Real Estate Sector:
| Total Amount: | $46,157,416 | |
| Total to Democrats: | $17,177,233 | (37%) |
| Total to Republicans: | $28,972,533 | (63%) |
| Number of PACs making contributions: |
Accountants: $4,725,931  34% to Dems / 66% to Repubs |
| Commercial Banks: $7,063,024 31% to Dems / 69% to Repubs |
| Credit Unions: $2,025,755 48% to Dems / 51% to Repubs |
| Finance/Credit Companies: $2,620,458 35% to Dems / 65% to Repubs |
| Insurance: $15,034,829 38% to Dems / 62% to Repubs |
| Misc Finance: $1,235,349 27% to Dems / 73% to Repubs |
| Real Estate: $5,703,853 40% to Dems / 60% to Repubs |
| Savings & Loans: $29,500 43% to Dems / 57% to Repubs |
| Securities & Investment: $7,718,717 41% to Dems / 59% to Repubs |
Based on data released by the FEC on August 06, 2012.
The only group that is giving almost equal amounts of money to both Republicans and Democrats are Credit Unions. It’s almost clear who the banksters prefer.
Now let’s take a look at Joe Biden. Biden is a lot like that uncle that gets drunk at your wedding and says the most inappropriate things. Biden has been caught with his foot in his mouth more times than Mitt Romney.
Joe Biden was a ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee and part of the Judiciary Committee. He retired from Congress to serve as VP to Obama. The following information is from his last Congressional election bid as no data is provided for campaign donations during his tenure as Vice President.
Top Contributors:
| Contributor | Total | Indivs | PACs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simmons Cooper LLC | $193,150 | $193,150 | $0 |
| Law Office of Peter Angelos | $156,250 | $156,250 | $0 |
| Pachulski, Stang et al | $145,125 | $145,125 | $0 |
| Young, Conaway et al | $128,595 | $128,595 | $0 |
| Weil, Gotshal & Manges | $95,450 | $95,450 | $0 |
Top Industries:
| Industry | Total | Indivs | PACs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lawyers/Law Firms | $4,966,803 | $4,938,333 | $28,470 |
| Real Estate | $972,609 | $963,909 | $8,700 |
| Retired | $887,879 | $887,879 | $0 |
| Securities & Investment | $686,300 | $686,300 | $0 |
| Misc Finance | $416,295 | $416,295 | $0 |
Now let’s take a look at his Top 20 Donors:
| Rank | Contributor | Hires lobbyists? | Lobbying firm?* | Lobbyist(s) give to member? |
Total | Indivs | PACs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Simmons Cooper LLC |  |
 |
$193,150 | $193,150 | $0 | |
| 2 | Law Office of Peter Angelos | $156,250 | $156,250 | $0 | |||
| 3 | Pachulski, Stang et al | $145,125 | $145,125 | $0 | |||
| 4 | Young, Conaway et al |  |
$128,595 | $128,595 | $0 | ||
| 5 | Weil, Gotshal & Manges | |
$95,450 | $95,450 | $0 | ||
| 6 | Weitz & Luxenberg | $92,750 | $92,750 | $0 | |||
| 7 | Baron & Budd | |
|
$92,050 | $92,050 | $0 | |
| 8 | Kreindler & Kreindler | |
$80,950 | $80,950 | $0 | ||
| 9 | Thornton & Naumes | $79,900 | $79,900 | $0 | |||
| 10 | Skadden, Arps et al | |
|
|
$72,850 | $72,850 | $0 |
| 11 | Grunfeld, Desiderio et al | |
|
$62,100 | $62,100 | $0 | |
| 12 | Reaud, Morgan & Quinn | |
|
$61,700 | $61,700 | $0 | |
| 13 | Cooney & Conway | $59,600 | $59,600 | $0 | |||
| 14 | Adler Group | $59,350 | $59,350 | $0 | |||
| 15 | MBNA Corp | $56,625 | $56,625 | $0 | |||
| 16 | Comcast Corp | |
|
$54,550 | $54,550 | $0 | |
| 17 | Bank of America | |
|
$53,875 | $48,875 | $5,000 | |
| 18 | Saul Ewing LLP | |
$50,250 | $50,250 | $0 | ||
| 19 | Kasowitz, Benson et al | $48,600 | $48,600 | $0 | |||
| 20 | Barclays | |
|
$45,950 | $45,950 | $0 |
*registrants, or active lobbying firm
Again, we see bankers on the donor list, even though they tend to spend more on Republicans, they often donate to Democrats in an attempt to hedge their bets.
Many of his donors are law firms, and yes, Comcast.
Again, we need to consider all of this data before we decide in November. Often, the money donated dictates the policies of administrations as industries and companies come to collect favors for their support.
****Chart provided by the Center For Responsive Politics*****
Now, because we couldn’t resist, Joe Biden…possbly drunk…definitely funny.
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- Ad attacking Obama over super-PAC cancer video to air in Iowa (thehill.com)
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