Wall Street Journal Examines Business Campaign Contributions To Presidential Candidates

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 03 Apr 2008 - 7:00 PDT

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Wall Street Journal on Tuesday examined how "business interests that give mainly to Republicans" have largely contributed more money to Democratic presidential candidates Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) than presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).

The Journal reports that Clinton and Obama have each received three times as much campaign cash from the health care and pharmaceutical industries as McCain. According to the Journal, companies cannot contribute to candidates, but campaigns are required to report the names and employers for people who contribute $200 or more. Since 1990, the health care industry gave 58% of its campaign contributions to Republicans (Mullins, Wall Street Journal, 4/2). Pharmaceutical firms have given 70% of their campaign donations to Republicans since 1990. In addition, hospitals and nursing homes have donated about one-third the money to McCain that they have contributed to Clinton and Obama. McCain has received $125,000 from the health care industry in February, compared with $441,000 for Clinton and $661,000 for Obama, according to data from the Federal Election Commission and Center for Responsive Politics (Wall Street Journal graphic, 4/2).

Clinton, whose fundraising efforts have been "helped" by "taking a leadership role in health care issues," ranks first among donations from health care firms, even though the industry opposes many of her health care plans, according to the Journal. Obama to date "was the most popular recipient of donations" from the pharmaceutical industry, the Journal reports.

Overall, McCain has received about $100 million less than each of the two Democratic candidates. However, McCain told reporters last week that his campaign had experienced a "dramatic increase in contributions" after other Republican candidates dropped out of the race. The candidates have not yet released their fundraising figures for March. The figures, including breakdowns by industry, will not be available until April 20 (Wall Street Journal, 4/2).

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