The Caucus | A New York Times
October 17, 2008, 5:33 pm
By Leslie Wayne
Senator John McCain has pulled slightly ahead of Senator Barack Obama in campaign contributions from military donors. But what set Mr. McCain over the top were donations that came from people working for the Department of Defense.
When it comes to the uniformed military, Mr. Obama is still ahead.
The Center for Responsive Politics, which analyzes campaign finance data, reports that a surge of donations for Mr. McCain in the final months he was able to accept campaign contributions moved him into the lead. By the end of August, Mr. McCain received $461,350 from military donors to $450,950 for Mr. Obama.
One of the interesting trends of the election was that anti-war candidates, not only Mr. Obama but also Ron Paul, were getting more support from the uniformed military than hawkish Mr. McCain. That remains the case. Mr. Obama received $340,400 from members of the uniformed service branches compared to $321,500 for Mr. McCain. Mr. Paul had taken in $213,000 from uniformed service members.
The report also shows that Mr. Obama also is ahead of Mr. McCain in military donors with overseas addresses, both those working for the Department of Defense as well as members of the uniformed services. A total of $74,650 came in for Mr. Obama from those posted overseas to $16,600 for Mr. McCain.
Mr. McCain, who served in the military for many years and was a Vietnam P.O.W., is wellknown for his tussles in Congress with the Pentagon over cost overruns on weapon systems. But the Department of Defense is among his top twenty donors. And, as a Navy man, Mr. McCain got support from donors in the Army, which also made Mr. McCain’s top twenty list of donors.
No group of military donors appeared among Mr. Obama’s top twenty. But that was because the amounts that Mr. Obama raised are so large that the military donations, as a group, were not large enough to make his list.
