bedsitter23

Sure polls are nice, but as Tim "Half-a-million in debt" Pawlenty will tell you, it's money that's important.

The Sunday Register did a large article on campaign donations so far (specifically focusing on cash from Iowans).

There were a few things that stand out right away.

First of all, I knew Ron Paul supporters were hardcore, but this puts it in numbers. Secondly, if Ron Paul has more contributions than any other GOP'er, that is probably a bad thing.

It also should be noted, that the GOP field has now passed Obama's totals, but I am not convinced that means anything.

Candidate        Amount          #of Contributors     Average Donation
Barack Obama            $198,645           374    $531
Ron Paul 77,445               166                            $467
Mitt Romney                      67,070                 78                            $860
Michele Bachmann         31,038                 75                            $414
Rick Santorum                 23,445                 26                            $902
Herman Cain                   21,221 30 $707
Tim Pawlenty 17,530    27                           $649
Rick Perry                           8,950    18 $497
Newt Gingrich    8,410    14 $601
Gary Johnson    550    1                             $550

It's like a snapshot of the election so far. Remember when Iowa was in love with Michele Bachmann (notably $14000 came before the Ames Straw Poll, the rest immediately after)? Or when the spark of Rick Perry failed to ignite?

Of course, Mitt Romney says he's not fundraising in Iowa, because he'd much rather that money spent on local politicians (thus explaining his low totals).

The Register also broke down the fundraising by county, and unsurprisingly most of it is coming from Polk (where Des Moines is located), though interestingly, Newt Gingrich draws well from Northeast and deeply conservative Western Iowa. Tim Pawlenty made a good deal from the Burlington area and Ron Paul was popular in the Southeastern part of the state.

It is also interesting to note that Iowa contributions only make a fraction of a percent (roughly .5%) of national contributions, and seeing the numbers really makes the whole thing feel small. Let's face it, I am only one less campaign contributor away from Gary Johnson, and not much that far from Perry.

There may not be a lot you can really do with these numbers (Huckabee was a distant 4th in '08 fundraising, and Hillary outdrew Obama), and contributions under $200 won't show up, but then again maybe these numbers will lead to who will win the caucus.