Dataviz by Sunlight

Party Time’s Year in Review Extravaganza!

Over the past year, politicians have unearthed valuable bounties at each of the X’s here - in other words, each dot on this map represents at least one 2012 fundraiser contained in our Party Time database of invites. We’ve collected and logged almost 2,700 funders since January, and we haven’t even come close to tracking the total amount hosted (help us by sending your invites here!). This graphic exhibits just a fraction of the political fundraisers hosted, many of which were sponsored by lobbyists or special interests. It can be shocking to see how much money is actually raised - and possibly being used to influence your elected officials.

Dark Money Organizations Change Strategies to Keep Donors Secret

As Election Day approaches, two major dark money organizations have been maintaining their aggressive pace of anonymously funded election spending.

Crossroads GPS has now spent at least $108.8 million on political ads this cycle, including over $12 million dollars worth of ads so far in September. The Koch brothers-founded Americans for Prosperity has increased the pace of its spending, hitting a total of at least $65 million, with $32 million coming in the last six weeks. All of Americans for Prosperity’s expenditures have been directed at President Obama, whereas Crossroads GPS has aimed over two thirds of its spending at the President and most of what remains at Democratic Senate candidates.

Federal candidates depend on financial sector more than any other for campaign money

Candidates running for federal office are two-thirds more dependent on donors from the finance, insurance and real estate (FIRE) sector for campaign contributions than any other sector. Through the second quarter of 2012, federal candidates have relied on the sector for 15.2% of their itemized (over $200) contributions, solidly ahead of their dependence on the next closest competitors — health interests (at 8.9%) and lawyers and lobbyists (at 8.8%).

This is not a new phenomenon. In each of the last seven election cycles, federal candidates have depended on the finance sector for between 15% and 17% of their contributions at the same point in the cycle. But with tax reform being high on the agenda no matter who is elected and the finance sector eager to continue to shape the implementation of Wall Street reform, the contributions are as important as ever.

Political Moneyball - An interactive portrait of money in politics

To visualize the relationships among political contributions, The Wall Street Journal used social network software to map more than a million records of donor data tracked by the Federal Election Commission.

Romney surging, but Obama well ahead in campaign cash

For Mitt Romney, the magic number is $158 million. That’s how much he’ll have to outraise President Barack Obama over the last four months of the campaign to surpass the president, the record holder for campaign fundraising.

Obama’s advantage has been lost in media reports highighting the Republican nominee’s $106 million June haul. Even Obama’s campaign, including the president himself, has downplayed its financial advantage when it warns of being outspent by Romney and the Republican National Committee. For that to happen, Romney would have to best Obama by $39.5 million a month for each of the last four months of the campaign, which is $5 million more than the advantage Romney had in June.

An analysis of Federal Election Commission (FEC) disclosure reports starting when Obama and Romney formally disclosed their candidacies running through the end of May 2012, and adding in totals the campaigns have announced for June, shows that Obama and his affiliated groups have raised $552.5 million, compared to Romney’s $394.9 million.

Attack of the Super PACs

Who are the biggest players in the 2012 presidential campaign?

Meet the Bundlers Behind the Money

In 2007, then-Sen. Barack Obama proposed legislation that would have required all presidential candidates to disclose information about supporters who raised at least $50,000 for their campaigns during the two-year period prior to Election Day. That legislation was never adopted, but as a presidential candidate Obama voluntarily released certain information about his top fundraisers.

One Million Backers

We’re really excited about this milestone. A million people is a lot — more than ten Rose Bowls! To celebrate we’d like to take a closer look at Kickstarter’s first million backers.

Top Campaign Contributions

This infographic analysis whether wall street and top companies “own” Barack Obama because of significant contributions they have made to his campaign. It provides how much money his campaign and the people in his cabinet raised during their campaigns and who were the net contributors. It also provides the same information for top Republicans in congress.

Republican Stargazing: Mapping 2012 GOP Fundraising

Some candidates are lone stars with remote galaxies of support. Others have broad universal reach. Check out the constellations of conservative support on this new interactive map:

The 2012 Money Race: Compare the Presidential Candidates

The candidates have raised more than $80 million for their campaigns to date, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. Mitt Romney easily raised the most among the Republicans, bringing in $18 million. But that falls far short of the $46 million that President Obama raised.

The fundraising March is on

The final push for campaign checks is in full swing, with Mar. 31 marking the end of the first quarter. That’s when campaigns have to close their books and, within 15 days, report the contributions they received to the Federal Election Commission.

Based on the invitations we have received so far, there are at least 500 fundraisers planned this month, the busiest month for such events since September 2010, which was just before the mid-term elections.