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Fundraising Central: Majority…
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Created: Thu Jan 10 11:29:59 2008
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Fundraising Central:
Majority of Presidential Bundlers and Other Fundraisers Hail from
Only Five U.S. Industries: Lawyers and Law Firms, Three Finance Industries,
and Real Estate
"Bundlers" and Other Fundraisers Appear Responsible for Majority of
Contributions to Best-Financed Presidential Campaigns
This joint Campaign Finance Institute-Public Citizen study of over 2,000 individuals
reported to be raising contributions for the 2008 presidential candidates finds that 56 percent of
the fundraisers came from just three segments of the U.S. economy: lawyers and law firms, three
finance industries, and real estate.
Democrats and Republicans were equally successful in recruiting support from the
considerable number of securities and investment industry fundraisers. Republicans held a
significant edge in garnering assistance from those in the real estate and lobbying industries.
Democrats received more support from lawyers and law firms, and from the TV, movies and
music industry.
It is impossible to know how much money each industry has provided because, under the
current regime of voluntary disclosure, none of the candidates are releasing precise information
about how much each of their fundraisers are generating. Furthermore, John Edwards is the only
candidate who is disclosing all of his fundraisers, although he is providing no information about
how much each has raised. The campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and to a lesser
extent, Rudy Giuliani, are disclosing some information about how much their bundlers have
raised or promised to raise. The sporadic and incomplete reporting by campaigns of their
designated fundraisers points to the need for legislation on this matter.
On the basis of this new study, we conclude with confidence that more than half of the
people reported as soliciting contributions for the 2008 presidential candidates' campaign coffers
come from only five identified industries three of which are part of the finance sector. Only an
extremely thin slice of Americans are mobilizing their financial and social networks to finance
the presidential race.
Background: "Bundlers" and Other Fundraisers Appear Largely Responsible for 2008
Presidential Contributions
Most of the 2008 presidential candidates are using "bundlers" to raise money for their
campaigns. Bundlers are fundraisers whose success at bringing in specific amounts of money is
tracked by the candidate they are supporting. Often, they receive honorific titles for surpassing
certain thresholds.
Bundlers have become increasingly important to candidates largely because of the failure
of Congress to update the 30-year-old presidential public financing system to keep pace with the
cost of running a presidential campaign. Since 2000, more and more candidates have opted out
1
of the system and proceeded to raise and spend money beyond the public system's spending
limits. Thus far, the amount of private money that has flowed into the current campaign is more
than double that in each of the previous two presidential cycles. A bill to fix the system, the
Presidential Funding Act of 2007, S. 346, was recently introduced in the U.S. Senate and House
of Representatives. It would update the presidential public funding system by increasing the
amounts that participating candidates could spend in the primary and general elections, and
increasing the public match on private campaign contributions of $200 or less.
Some 2008 presidential fundraisers have not been publicly labeled as "bundlers" by the
candidates. But because these individuals serve on fundraising committees or sponsor
fundraising events, we have included them in the figures below. Some of these people may be
bundlers or may have less specific financial goals and receive less formal recognition than
bundlers.
Bundlers and Other Large Fundraisers Appear to Collect Bulk of Campaign Contributions
The best information available on the overall amounts raised by bundlers is being
provided by Clinton and Obama. This information strongly suggests that a relatively small
universe of bundlers and other large fundraisers is responsible for arranging the majority of
contributions to at least these two campaigns, which are the best financed so far. Obama has
publicly disclosed 328 of his bundlers. Of these:
· 179 have raised $50,000-$100,000;
· 71 have raised $100,000-$200,000; and
· 78 have raised over $200,000.
If each of Obama's bundlers raised the minimum for his or her range, the total would
come to $32 million of Obama's total of $79 million. More plausibly, if bundlers in the first two
categories raised the average of their ranges ($75,000 and $150,000) and those in the third
category averaged $300,000, or one-third higher than the minimum, the amount raised would
total $47.5 million of the $79 million (or 60.1 percent). And the $47.5 million would not include
the funds bundled by those who are not reported on by the campaign because they have thus far
raised less than $50,000.
Clinton lists 311 "Hillraisers" who have collected at least $100,000 each, totaling at least
$31 million of her $78 million (or 39.7 percent). Some Clinton bundlers have pledged to raise as
much as $1 million each. If the Hillraisers averaged only $150,000, they would account for $46
million, or 59 percent, of the money Clinton has raised. Again this does not take account of
bundlers under $100,000.
While Edwards and Republicans Mitt Romney, Giuliani, John McCain and Fred
Thompson are providing no specific information on how much their bundlers or other
fundraisers have actually raised (Giuliani has disclosed those who have either pledged or raised
at least $50,000), each of them has provided a substantial list of bundlers or fundraisers. Each
has also indicated that some fundraisers were expected to produce tens of thousands, or hundreds
of thousands, of dollars. There is no reason to suspect that these campaigns are any less reliant
on their fundraisers than Clinton and Obama.
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A Few Industries Dominate Presidential Fundraising
To create as comprehensive as possible a picture of presidential fundraising through the
third quarter of 2007, CFI and Public Citizen collaborated to expand Public Citizen's "White
House for Sale" database and Web site. Beginning with the limited campaign reporting and
credible press disclosures of the identities of presidential bundlers/fundraisers, the augmented
database provides additional information about their states of residence, occupations, employers
and with the valuable assistance of the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) fundraisers'
industries. (CRP lists 102 "industries" that are overwhelmingly sections of the economy but also
include unions, issues and ideological groups, clergy etc.) The full bundler/fundraiser database
can be found at www.whitehouseforsale.org.
We were able to locate relevant employers and industries for 2,017 out of 2,494 reported
bundlers/fundraisers, or more than 80 percent of the total. This was a significant accomplishment
given the number of bundlers/fundraisers for whom employer information could not be obtained
or whose employers' industries could not be identified. (See methodological note below)
Leaving aside 58 "homemaker" fundraisers whose employed spouses are
overwhelmingly also fundraisers, and whom we treat separately below, we examined 1,959
persons who were coded by industry. Of these, 1,134 (56 percent) work in just five U.S.
industries:
· Lawyers/law firms: 608
· Three finance industries (securities and investment, miscellaneous finance, and
commercial banks): 336
· Real estate: 190
Lawyers listed as fundraisers include corporate lawyers, consumers lawyers and lawyers
who perform other services. There is good reason to believe that the financial impact of lawyers
and law firms is significantly less than the relative numbers of fundraisers suggest. This is
because 327 of the 608 individuals in this category were identified as bundling for Edwards.
They are the great majority of his bundlers. But, unlike Democrat candidates Clinton and
Obama, and Republican candidate Giuliani, Edwards imposes no minimum dollar requirement
for his fundraisers to be identified as bundlers. The Edwards campaign has also raised less than
half the contributions of either Clinton or Obama, but he lists nearly twice as many bundlers as
either of them. Still, even if Edwards' candidacy did not exist, lawyers and law firms would rank
near the top of industry fundraisers.
The next leading industry sources of bundlers and other fundraisers were:
· Business services: 132
· TV, movies and music: 75
· Lobbyists: 61
· Civil servants and public officials: 59
· Computers/internet: 46
3
In contrast, the great majority of the 70 fundraiser industries revealed in our study such
as food and beverage, telecom services , automotive, defense and education furnished fewer
than 15 fundraisers each.
For a complete list of industries for bundlers/fundraisers with identified employers or
occupations see Table 1.
Separately, we examined 78 bundlers designated as "homemakers" in the FEC's
campaign finance records. We found that 58 of them had a spouse with an identifiable industry,
and in 54 cases the spouse was already a bundler. Of these 58 industry-connected homemakers,
exactly half came from the three finance industries, lawyers and law firms, or real estate.
Republican and Democratic-Leaning Industries
Among the leading industries furnishing bundlers/fundraisers, certain significant
categories provided almost equal support for candidates from the two parties:
· Securities and investment (part of finance) (D-123, R-116); and
· Business services (D-67, R-65).
Republicans received significantly more support than Democrats in other areas:
· Miscellaneous finance (R-39, D-22)
· Commercial banks (R-23, D-13)
· Insurance (R-16, D-10)
· Real estate (R-120, D-70); and
· Lobbyists (R-51, D-10).
Democrats held strong advantages in:
· Lawyers and law firms (D-80, R-128); and
· TV, movies and music (D-63, R-12).
To see a list of industries with at least 10 bundlers/fundraisers, along with their party
breakdown, see Table 2.
Individual Candidate Support
Further insights come from looking at specific candidates' top sources of fundraisers.
Among the best-financed campaigns:
· Democrats Obama and Clinton drew their top-ranked bundlers almost equally
from lawyers and law firms and securities and investment with real estate sources
trailing somewhat further behind. In contrast, Edwards' "fundraising solicitors"
were overwhelmingly from law, with his next most important categories,
TV/Movies/Music, business services and real estate lagging far behind.
4
· Republican Romney depended first on finance-related industries (securities and
investment and miscellaneous finance), followed by real estate and lawyers and
law firms. His strength was in the business sector. McCain and Giuliani shared an
emphasis on lawyers and law firms, securities and investment and real estate. The
big contrast was with Thompson. His top categories were, in order: lawyers/law
firms, lobbyists, and civil servants and public officials. This indicates he has
gained less traction with business than his rivals.
There is little to say about the less well-financed candidates because their numbers of
disclosed bundlers/fundraisers are either in the single or low double digits. Candidates such as
Republican Mike Huckabee and Democrats Joe Biden, Chris Dodd and Bill Richardson have
released no official information on their fundraisers. Huckabee has recently risen into the top tier
of competitive primary candidates, proving that money is not everything in the presidential
primaries at least in the short run!
See Table 3 for the top five and total number of industry-related categories of
bundlers/fundraisers for all Democratic and Republican presidential candidates with identified
fundraisers.
Campaign Finance Institute Executive Director Michael J. Malbin commented, "One
question raised by this study is whether people who can mobilize their business and social
networks to amass even hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions from others, and gain
credit from the candidate for having done so, are putting themselves in the same position as if
they gave the money themselves. We need to fully gauge this problem, and its consequences for
our campaign finance laws, by mandating official public disclosure of who is raising the money
and getting the credit in these circumstances."
Methodological Note: From a bundler/fundraiser database of 2,494 people, we were able to identity
employer/occupation information on 2,137, of whom 49 were classified as retired, 23 as homemakers without
spouse industry information, and 48 unsuccessful employer matches to CRP's industry database. Thus, we had a net
total of 2,017 bundlers/fundraisers for whom we were able to identify the industry associated with their employment
status. The remaining 357 bundlers that we were unable to classify by industry fell into two categories: 1) There was
not sufficient (or any) information available about the bundler/fundraiser's employment or occupation, or 2) There
was information on the bundler/fundraiser's employment but the employer was not on CRP's list of employer
organizations classified by industry for the last three election cycles, and we were unable to find enough other
information to code the employer.
Those categorized as lobbyists include only those who work for firms specifically tasked with lobbying. Other
federally registered lobbyists, tabulated in a previous Public Citizen report, are categorized here by the industry for
which they are lobbying. Hence, totals for lobbyists are lower by this methodology than the previous study found.
Acknowledgements
The primary authors of this report were Steve Weissman of Campaign Finance Institute and
Taylor Lincoln of Public Citizen's Congress Watch. Essential contributions to this effort were
made by Brendan Glavin and Margaret Sammon of CFI, and Alex Cohen and Kaifi Jamil of
Congress Watch. Editorial supervision was provided by Michael Malbin of CFI and Laura
MacCleery of Congress Watch. The Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) provided industry
coding for employers identified in this study.
5
Table 1: Breakdown of Presidential Fundraisers by Industry
Number of
Industry
Fundraisers
Lawyers/Law Firms 608
Securities & Investment 239
Real Estate 190
Business Services 132
TV/Movies/Music 75
Lobbyists 61
Misc Finance 61
Civil Servants/Public Officials 59
Computers/Internet 46
Commercial Banks 36
Insurance 26
Retail Sales 24
Misc Manufacturing & Distributing 23
Oil & Gas 22
Health Professionals 21
General Contractors 21
Non-Profit Institutions 19
Automotive 19
Recreation/Live Entertainment 18
Printing & Publishing 17
Education 14
Home Builders 14
Telecom Services & Equipment 13
Pharmaceuticals/Health Products 12
Food & Beverage 11
Lodging/Tourism 11
Beer, Wine & Liquor 11
Health Services/HMOs 10
Accountants 9
Electric Utilities 9
Food Processing & Sales 9
Building Materials & Equipment 8
Hospitals/Nursing Homes 8
Chemical & Related Manufacturing 8
Air Transport 8
Construction Services 7
6
Number of
Industry
Fundraisers
Misc Business 5
Agricultural Services/Products 5
Misc Health 4
Misc Defense 4
Crop Production & Basic Processing 3
Telephone Utilities 3
Textiles 3
Steel Production 3
Human Rights 3
Trucking 3
Misc Energy 3
Livestock 3
Misc Transport 3
Casinos/Gambling 2
Abortion Policy/Pro-Choice 2
Misc Services 2
Forestry & Forest Products 2
Defense Electronics 2
Finance/Credit Companies 2
Democratic/Liberal 2
Railroads 2
Special Trade Contractors 2
Waste Management 2
Environment 1
Building materials and equipment 1
Business Associations 1
Tobacco 1
Defense Aerospace 1
Employment agencies 1
Foreign & Defense Policy 1
Generic Occupation/Category Unknown 1
Sea Transport 1
Republican/Conservative 1
Lodging /Tourism 1
Electronics Mfg & Services 1
Republican/Conservative 1
Sea Transport 1
Building materials and equipment 1
7
Table 2: Party Breakdown of Industries Providing at Least 10 Fundraisers
Industry Total Democrat Republican
Lawyers/Law Firms 608 480 128
Securities & Investment 239 123 116
Real Estate 190 70 120
Business Services 132 67 65
TV/Movies/Music 75 63 12
Lobbyists 61 10 51
Misc Finance 61 22 39
Civil Servants/Public Officials 59 26 33
Computers/Internet 46 22 24
Commercial Banks 36 13 23
Insurance 26 10 16
Retail Sales 24 11 13
Misc Manufacturing & Distributing 23 12 11
Oil & Gas 22 6 16
Health Professionals 21 8 13
General Contractors 21 3 18
Non-Profit Institutions 19 9 10
Automotive 19 2 17
Recreation/Live Entertainment 18 7 11
Printing & Publishing 17 14 3
Education 14 10 4
Home Builders 14 2 12
Telecom Services & Equipment 13 8 5
Pharmaceuticals/Health Products 12 5 7
Food & Beverage 11 4 7
Lodging/Tourism 11 4 7
Beer, Wine & Liquor 11 1 10
Health Services/HMOs 10 3 7
8
Table 3: Breakdown of Industry Support By Candidate
Democrats
Joe Biden
Industry # Fundraisers
Lawyers/Law Firms 7
Real Estate 2
Business Services 2
Lobbyists 1
Misc Finance 1
Total for All Industries 14
Hillary Clinton
Industry # Fundraisers
Lawyers/Law Firms 57
Securities & Investment 40
Real Estate 28
Business Services 25
TV/Movies/Music 19
Total for All Industries 282
Chris Dodd
Industry # Fundraisers
TV/Movies/Music 3
Securities & Investment 2
Lobbyists 1
Misc Manufacturing & Distributing 1
Lawyers/Law Firms 1
Total for All Industries 12
John Edwards
Industry # Fundraisers
Lawyers/Law Firms 339
TV/Movies/Music 23
Business Services 23
Real Estate 18
Homemakers/Non-income earners 17
Total for All Industries 543
9
Barack Obama
Industry # Fundraisers
Lawyers/Law Firms 80
Securities & Investment 63
Real Estate 19
TV/Movies/Music 18
Business services 16
Total for All Industries 302
Bill Richardson
Industry # Fundraisers
Real Estate 3
Securities & Investment 3
Lawyers/Law Firms 3
TV/Movies/Music 1
Civil Servants/Public Officials 1
Total for All Industries 13
Republicans
Rudy Giuliani
Industry # Fundraisers
Lawyers/Law Firms 30
Securities & Investment 26
Business Services 24
Real estate 19
Lobbyists 11
Total for All Industries 196
Mike Huckabee
Industry # Fundraisers
Commercial Banks 2
Business Services 1
Livestock 1
Retail Sales 1
Total for All Industries 5
10
John McCain
Industry # Fundraisers
Lawyers/Law Firms 56
Real Estate 54
Securities & Investment 40
Business Services 21
Lobbyists` 20
Total for All Industries 386
Mitt Romney
Industry # Fundraisers
Securities & Investment 45
Real Estate 45
Lawyers/Law Firms 27
Misc Finance 22
Homemakers/Non-income earners 13
Total for All Industries 312
Fred Thompson
Industry # Fundraisers
Lawyers/Law Firms 15
Lobbyists 10
Civil Servants/Public Officials 8
Business Services 7
Homemakers/Non-income earners 6
Total for All Industries 82
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