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CHICAGO (Islam Online & News Agencies) - The Federal Election Commission (FEC) data has just revealed some interesting facts and figures about the role of money in the current election race.
The most expensive race is for the vacant New York U.S. Senate seat which First Lady Hillary Clinton (D) and Republican Rick Lazio helped in raising the state's amount to $49,237,515. New Jersey's senate race follows with $48,126,344. However, when it comes to spending campaign money, the two states traded places, with New Jersey spending $46,993,469, and New York, $34,452,397. These totals include financial activity by all candidates in each race, not just the final candidates running in the general election. Other noteworthy findings include:
Federal election laws require that all contributions of $200 or more be itemized with the donor's name, address, occupation and employer fully disclosed. Most members of Congress fully identify the great majority of their donors' occupations and employers - an important requirement enabling voters to have the ability to view the economic interests giving to their representative's campaign. Some noteworthy findings within campaign donor reporting include:
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, George W. Bush had the best disclosure record among the current presidential candidates. Bush, with more than $85 million in itemized individual contributions, disclosed 89% of his donors. His main rival, Al Gore, reported more than $37 million in itemized receipts from individuals and disclosed 81% of his donations. Green Party candidate Ralph Nader, who raised more than $675,000 in itemized individual contributions, equaled Gore at 81% disclosure. The Reform Party's Pat Buchanan, with more than $6 million in itemized individual contributions, disclosed only 46% of his donors - one of the poorest disclosure rates of any federal candidate this year. By comparison, President Clinton disclosed 92% of his donors in the 1996 presidential race. Bob Dole provided 74% disclosure of his donors that year, and Ross Perot disclosed 66%. Steve Weiss, Communications Director of the Center, who has been monitoring the money talk and walk of the candidates, said that there was much attention given to the amount of fundraising taking place, and specifically, towards fundraising abuses committed by both parties. "It's ironic that now we have even more and more money being raised, record amounts in every category and really sending the amount of money off the scales. Really, the presence of money and the influence of money in the political process just seem to be increasing no matter how much it is talked about," Weiss said. There's not a whole lot being done as far as campaign finance reform, that's why the influence of money is increasing, he said. |
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