I did a bit of exploration of Federal Election Commission data in '04, mostly emanating from debates on this forum. This was frustrating because the FEC web site is lacking. And since the data concerning the presidential campaigns is segmented (large donations, PAC donations, quarterly filings) it was hard to get a unified picture.
FEC
This cycle, I discovered that the data is downloadable via FTP. So for fun (!*?) I imported it into a relational database.
I thought it might be interesting (!*?) to see which states the candidates draw the most/least support from. (This can only be learned from contributions > $200, as small contributions don't have to be reported in detail.)
Nothing earth shattering here, but I did discover that per capita:
- several candidates received the most support from Washington DC, including Clinton, Obama, Edwards, Giuliani and McCain
- unsurprisingly, Romney received the most support from Utah and Richardson from New Mexico
- the state/territory that has donated the least (per capita) to Obama is Puerto Rico; Giuliani also fared poorly in Puerto Rico
- not wishing to slight Corplinx
I'll mention that Ron Paul received the most support from New Hampshire, home of the free state project, and the least support from Mississippi
Top/bottom 5 states per candidate (google spreadsheet)
If there are any questions you're unable to answer from the FEC site, I'll be glad to give it a shot -- Pirate FEC IT is open for business.
FEC
This cycle, I discovered that the data is downloadable via FTP. So for fun (!*?) I imported it into a relational database.
I thought it might be interesting (!*?) to see which states the candidates draw the most/least support from. (This can only be learned from contributions > $200, as small contributions don't have to be reported in detail.)
Nothing earth shattering here, but I did discover that per capita:
- several candidates received the most support from Washington DC, including Clinton, Obama, Edwards, Giuliani and McCain
- unsurprisingly, Romney received the most support from Utah and Richardson from New Mexico
- the state/territory that has donated the least (per capita) to Obama is Puerto Rico; Giuliani also fared poorly in Puerto Rico
- not wishing to slight Corplinx
I'll mention that Ron Paul received the most support from New Hampshire, home of the free state project, and the least support from MississippiTop/bottom 5 states per candidate (google spreadsheet)
If there are any questions you're unable to answer from the FEC site, I'll be glad to give it a shot -- Pirate FEC IT is open for business.
