Every year I am always shocked at the high dollars people fork up for campaigns. This year is definitely no exception with such exciting primary races taking place. I came across a Houston Chronicle article that mentions the donations the candidates have received from energy and natural resources groups. I was very surprised to learn that Hillary Clinton has received the most from the energy and natural resources sector raising $792,588, Obama came in second with $727,801 and McCain has $630,650. Now, I'm not sure how much of this is coming from oil and gas, but I'm guessing a lot of it is, and what is coming from the oil and gas industry is going to McCain.
Over all in the 2004 election John Kerry received $725,767 from the same energy and natural resources sector and Bush received $4,771,016. So, Hillary and Obama have already raised more than John Kerry did in the general election and we're still in the primaries! The wild democratic primary is probably a big factor in the high contributions that have come out so far, so I'm excited to see what kind of money will be generated and where it comes from in the general election!
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Treehugger.com reports the Big Oil contribution breakdown as follows:
Clinton - $267, 150
McCain - $229, 685
Obama - $128,290
It makes sense, I suppose, that it breaks down this way, given Obama's rhetoric of trimming tax relief for oil companies and McCain's long-standing campaign finance reform platform. However, both candidates may find themselves eating their words, if they haven't already.
As reported in a Salon.com article (subscription required), Obama, who is swimming in a sea of private donations, is distancing himself from an earlier pledge he made in Feb. 2007 about relying exclusively on the $85 million the federal public financing system provides candidates. McCain has also apparently backtracked after making a similar pledge. Clinton has been fairly quiet on the subject, owing either to her praise ("experience"/pragmatism) or criticism ("old politics"/regressivism).
Naturally, both the Obama and McCain camps have slung mud, crying hypocrisy on the part of the other. But, as Treehugger points out, at least we can't say the Big Oil contributions will dictate the outcome of the election -- at least not at the going rate.
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