By Michael Dorausch, D.C.
As of today, wanna-be president Hillary Clinton is pressing forward with her campaign, while her Democratic rival, Senator Barack Obama, campaigns in Oregon and Kentucky in preparation for this Tuesday’s upcoming primaries. When it comes to this years influence and lobbying, the Democratic candidates have received the lion’s share of chiropractic contributions, according to election cycle data. 2008 will mark the first time since 1994 that chiropractors gave significantly more contributions to Democratic candidates than they did Republicans.
(photo: election cycle data for 1990 – 2008)
This screenshot shows election cycle data for the years 1990 – 2008 (what’s currently available for this year). The chart shows total contributions, contributions from individuals, and contributions from PACs. The graphic does not show soft-money contributions, or percentages to Democrats or Republicans, a full-sized graph with that information can be viewed here.
Current data for the 2008 election cycle shows 58% of chiropractic contributions going to Democrats. It is the first time in 14 years that chiropractors have reportedly given more to the Democratic Party than they did the Republican Party. In 1990, 1992, and 1994, chiropractors made the majority of their contributions to the Democratic Party. From 1996 through 2006, chiropractors reportedly donated more to Republicans than Democrats, except for the year 2000, which saw near equal contributions among the two parties.
Last week, I wrote about the chiropractic vote and provided some resources on previous money in politics articles. In January 2008 I took a look at data that was currently available related to chiropractic money in politics and elections. New information has come online since that time, and the numbers will continue to be updated throughout the year.
The graph on the left shown above demonstrates total contributions in millions given by individuals, PACs, and soft money contributions. The graph to the right displays total in millions given to both Democrats and Republicans. Looking at the graph, it’s easy to see the difference in monies given for the 1992 and 1994 election cycles versus the 2004 and 2006 election cycles.
The numbers shown are based on contributions of $200 or more from PACs and individuals to federal candidates and from PAC, soft money and individual donors to political parties, as reported to the Federal Election Commission. While election cycles are shown in charts as 1996, 1998, 2000 etc. they actually represent two-year periods. For example, the 2002 election cycle runs from January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2002.
Note: Soft money contributions to the national parties were not publicly disclosed until the 1991-92 election cycle, and were banned by the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act following the 2002 elections.
*These figures do not include donations of “Levin” funds to state and local party committees. Levin funds were created by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002.
This information was made available thanks to the Center for Responsive Politics. Visit the politics category in the chiropractic blog pages to read more about politics and the chiropractic profession. There are also dozens of related archived news posts to be found when your Planet Chiropractic search=politics.
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