Show me the money! Campaign contributions reveal much about your candidate
November is coming up and maybe you鈥檙e still trying to decide whom to vote for in your local race for Congress. You鈥檙e a serious voter, so you鈥檝e looked up the candidates鈥� positions on the issues. You鈥檝e tried to ignore political ads 鈥� you know they鈥檙e mostly intended to evoke an emotional response, not convey information. Maybe you鈥檝e even attended a town-hall meeting or two.
Great. Now we鈥檝e got a tip 鈥� follow the money.
You can learn a lot from a candidate鈥檚 Federal Election Commission financial disclosure forms. This is about more than the size of their campaign treasury. FEC filings also can tell you about candidates鈥� management skills and priorities, as well as who their friends are. And where their friends live.
So here are three tips for reading campaign finance reports (which are readily accessible at the FEC鈥檚 website, , as well as , the website of the watchdog group Center for Responsive Politics)
Where鈥檚 their money going? FEC reports list individual expenditures, from which you can deduce general priorities.
Have they hired lots of people to knock on doors, or is the bulk of their money going for TV ads? Do they have consultants? Expenditure reports even let you see whether there are repeated payments to fancy restaurants or hair salons.
鈥淎ll that can be very telling about how they organize their offices or might govern,鈥� says Dave Levinthal, spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics.
How much money is left? Cash on hand is an important political indicator. Fundraising is expensive, so it is possible for a candidate to have raised a lot of cash but have little to spend after the fundraiser bills are paid. It鈥檚 also possible to have too much 鈥� Rep. Mike Castle (R) of Delaware had $2.6 million left only weeks prior to his primary defeat by Christine O鈥橠onnell. He was hoarding money for a general election he didn鈥檛 reach.
What鈥檚 their most lucrative ZIP Code? The FEC site allows you to sort a candidate鈥檚 contributions from individuals by ZIP Code. This lets you see whether a congressional candidate鈥檚 monetary supporters are spread throughout the district or grouped in certain neighborhoods 鈥� or even live out of state.
