In presidential race, who's getting techies' money?

The 2008 U.S. presidential race is already well under way, never mind that the election is nearly 19 months in the future.

Presidential hopefuls have raised more than $115 million so far this year, according to federal filings that became available last week. That's about four times the amount the candidates raised at this point four years ago.

To provide a glimpse into what kind of money is coming from computer programmers, engineers and Web types, CNET News.com compiled the following index. Based on these figures reflecting contributions in the first quarter of this year, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama seems to hold a slight edge over fellow Democrat Sen. Hillary Clinton among people living and working in Seattle and Silicon Valley.

Among Republicans, former Gov. Mitt Romney may have a slight lead in this area over former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Both Democratic candidates, however, have raised more money than their Republican counterparts. We scored only the top two fund-raisers from each major party, which left out other candidates including former Sen. John Edwards, a Democrat, and Sen. John McCain, who is seeking the Republican nomination.

As for who's tech-friendliest among the current senators vying for the White House, not one received a passing grade in CNET News.com's 2006 technology voter guide. Clinton received a failing grade of 33 percent, and Obama did only slightly better with a 50 percent. McCain ranked worse than either, at 31 percent. (Here's our Tech Politics podcast talking about this topic with the Computer & Communications Industry Association.)

Total number of contributions received:
Clinton (D): 16,282
Obama (D): 20,459
Giuliani (R): 9,703
Romney (R): 14,832

Total dollar amount of contributions received, not including from political committees:
Clinton (D): $25,818,302
Obama (D): $25,706,054
Giuliani (R): $14,675,283
Romney (R): $20,841,938

Contributions listing occupation matching "Internet" or "computer":
Clinton (D): 13
Obama (D): 16
Giuliani (R): 7
Romney (R): 11

Contributions listing occupation matching "software":
Clinton (D): 25
Obama (D): 112
Giuliani (R): 8
Romney (R): 36

Contributions listing occupation matching "attorney" or "lawyer":
Clinton (D): 2,090
Obama (D): 3,170
Giuliani (R): 898
Romney (R): 965

Contributions listing occupation matching "executive":
Clinton (D): 581
Obama (D): 425
Giuliani (R): 411
Romney (R): 812

Contributions listing Recording Industry Association of America or the Motion Picture Association of America as employer:
Clinton (D): 3
Obama (D): 3
Giuliani (R): 0
Romney (R): 1

Contributions listing Google as employer:
Clinton (D): 13
Obama (D): 22
Giuliani (R): 1
Romney (R): 0

Contributions listing Cisco Systems as employer:
Clinton (D): 22
Obama (D): 3
Giuliani (R): 3
Romney (R): 1

Contributions listing Microsoft as employer:
Clinton (D): 10
Obama (D): 18
Giuliani (R): 1
Romney (R): 5

Contributions listing Apple Inc. or Apple Computer as employer:
Clinton (D): 3
Obama (D): 1
Giuliani (R): 0
Romney (R): 1

Contributions listing Intel Corporation as employer:
Clinton (D): 1
Obama (D): 4
Giuliani (R): 0
Romney (R): 2

Contributions listing Adobe Systems as employer:
Clinton (D): 1
Obama (D): 3
Giuliani (R): 0
Romney (R): 1

Contributions listing Jones Day, the second largest U.S. law firm, with about 240 attorneys in its Washington office, as employer:
Clinton (D): 1
Obama (D): 92
Giuliani (R): 14
Romney (R): 2

[DecliningUSDollar]

Sold down the river

Nice to see that everyone has been bought and paid for.

[`WarpKat]

Lobbyists Are a Way of Political Life

It doesn't matter how many times someone says they won't accept lobbyist money for a campaign - the fact remains that lobbyists will always be around, directly or indirectly contributing money to a particular campaign.

Now in the interests of consumers AND businesses thriving and working well together to achieve a well-balanced technological goal, I'm all for the contributions; i.e. Open Document, etc.

When the contributors sole purpose is to appease the goals of just one side, however, that's when I start to question the lobbying effort; i.e. Microsoft.

But of course, this isn't just about standards and technology. This is about encompassing a balance between all parties involved for any stated goal brought to the front by consumers, environmentalists, business, etc. If there is no harmony in the end result, then it's safe to say there was never any harmony anywhere to begin with.

[Zaphod_Beeblebrox]

Interesting that MSFT supports Democrats

The last time we had a Democrat administration it threatened to break up Microsoft. Despite this it appears that some Microsoft employees still contribute to the Democratic party. Very strange.

[BrianARice]

Obama4Change.com

I built a website that is a photo and message gallery for Barack Obama supporters.

www.Obama4Change.com

Everyone upload some photos and let's see what we look like!

[be_free]

Ha-ha, that's a good one

Aside from Ron Paul who seem to get the majority of his contributions from individuals. I think he broke some kind of record, or close to it, November 5 receiving a bit over 4 million dollars in one day where the average contribution was $102/person. Now that's grass root support to boot.