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Check Out the Tool That Reveals Politicians’ Top 10 Campaign Donors

Oct. 17, 2012 7:37am
Wired Releases Its Influence Tracker Widget That Shows Who Is Funding Political Candidates Campaigns

(Image: Wired Screenshot)

Who exactly is ponying up the most money for presidential and congressional candidates might be easier to find than you think. Thanks to Wired’s “Influence Tracker” tool made in collaboration with the nonprofit Maplight, you can find out “who bought your politician” without sifting through data sets or conducting other Web searches.

Wired states that it is helping put this out in the open so voters have all they information they could possibly need to make an informed decision before headed to the polls.

“Corporate influence in politics has gone off the charts, and it’s more important than ever for voters to understand who is financing candidates,” Evan Hansen, editor in chief of Wired.com, said according to the post. “Maplight has done the hard work of compiling the data. At Wired, we’re happy to help get that information out to the wider public, and share it as broadly as possible with this web-based embeddable widget.”

The donor information itself is pulled together by Maplight from campaign-financing figures obtained by the Federal Election Commission. Wired states that this information remains up-to-date.

We pulled out the presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Barack Obama (see below) as examples. If you want to see their top 10 contributors, click the blue arrow.

You may notice the logos in the shadow profile of each candidate. As Wired points out, these “NASCAR-style logos” represent the candidate’s biggest contributors. As you can see, the GOP candidate falls in second with more than $150 million raised to President Obama’s more than $201 million. Romney’s top contributors include Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley. Obama’s top donors include the U.S. Government, University of California, Google and Microsoft.

“In just a few weeks, voters will confront a ballot filled with candidates whose campaigns have been paid for by wealthy donors. People deserve to know the truth about whose interests their candidates are really representing,” Daniel Newman, president and co-founder of MapLight, said according to Wired. “We’re proud to work with Wired to give voters a tool they can use to draw back the curtain on the moneyed influence plaguing our political system.”

To seek out candidates in the widget yourself, go to Wired’s website and begin typing names in the search bar. Clicking on the blue arrow will bring up the candidate’s top contributors. If you wish to embed the candidate’s profile, the embed code is below the image itself.

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Comments (16)

  • right field
    Posted on October 17, 2012 at 10:43am

    Where do we go to find the amount of union dues that were extracted from forced union membership and handed over to the Democrat / Marxist candidates? The unions have contributed huge amounts of money to Obama and all the Democrats. Unions are no different from the banks or any business that is seeking government policies that will benefit their values. I would side with the banks any day compared to the unions. Ultimately, you’ve got to decide which group can produce capital and grow the economy.
    Unions produce nothing – like government – unions only take from the economy. Banks, while not perfect, at least can produce capital and produce wealth.

    Report this comment

    right field  
    • turkey13
      Posted on October 17, 2012 at 4:53pm

      The best APP I have heard of is the one GM came out with for Chevy Volt owners. The APP noitifys you when your battery is fully charged and it notifys you if it shorts out and the car catches fire.

      Report this comment

      turkey13  
  • DanInMN
    Posted on October 17, 2012 at 10:03am

    This app is fairly dishonest in that it represents these donations as coming from the companies. These are contributions by *employees* of these companies. When you donate, you have to list your employer if the donation is over a certain amount ($250 IIRC.) So yeah, while this data can be interesting, I’m not sure that it tells anyone very much other than people of a certain political bent gravitate to certain industries or companies.

    Report this comment

    DanInMN  
  • Dustoff
    Posted on October 17, 2012 at 8:59am

    It’s funny.. the top 10 for Romney are Wall Street. They “were” the top 10 for O-dumber back in 2008.

    So even they have seen the writing on the wall.

    Report this comment

    Dustoff  
  • caleejr
    Posted on October 17, 2012 at 8:39am

    Wait – why is the US Government contributing?! WTH?

    Report this comment

    caleejr  
  • Irishtech
    Posted on October 17, 2012 at 8:18am

    “Obama’s top donors include the U.S. Government, University of California, Google and Microsoft.” WHAT! The US GOVERNMENT is donating to Obama!!!

    Report this comment

    Irishtech  
  • KidCharlemagne
    Posted on October 17, 2012 at 7:57am

    Romney’s top 10 donors all seem to consist of bailed-out banks…

    Report this comment

    KidCharlemagne  
  • jackact
    Posted on October 17, 2012 at 7:57am

    Maplight- please utilize your services in NYC to determine the top 10 Chinese communists that contributed to comptroller, John Liu’s corrupt campaign.
    Thanks.

    Report this comment

    jackact  

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