If money talks, the troops are saying, ‘Vote Obama’
Posted August 14th, 2008 at 1:20 pm

Share This | Spotlight | Permalink

Way back in September, we learned that Barack Obama and Ron Paul, who
don’t have too much in common, were the top two presidential candidates
when it came to financial support from U.S. troops.

It had a certain political salience — opponents of the war in Iraq took
note of the fact that the top two recipients of military donations went
to critics of the Bush policy — but it was still relatively early in the
process. Would the trend continue once the race grew more competitive?
Actually, yes.

The Center for Responsive Politics reported today that Obama has
received six times as much money from the troops as John McCain.

According to an analysis of campaign contributions by the
nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Democrat Barack Obama has
received nearly six times as much money from troops deployed overseas at
the time of their contributions than has Republican John McCain, and the
fiercely anti-war Ron Paul, though he suspended his campaign for the
Republican nomination months ago, has received more than four times
McCain’s haul.

Despite McCain’s status as a decorated veteran and a historically
Republican bent among the military, members of the armed services
overall — whether stationed overseas or at home — are also favoring
Obama with their campaign contributions in 2008, by a $55,000 margin.
Although 59 percent of federal contributions by military personnel has
gone to Republicans this cycle, of money from the military to the
presumed presidential nominees, 57 percent has gone to Obama.

Aaron Belkin, a professor of political science at the University of
California who studies the military, said, “That’s shocking. The
academic debate is between some who say that junior enlisted ranks lean
slightly Republican and some who say it’s about equal, but no one would
point to six-to-one” in Democrats’ favor. “That represents a tremendous
shift from 2000, when the military vote almost certainly was decisive in
Florida and elsewhere, and leaned heavily towards the Republicans.”

That last point is especially striking. Eight years ago, Bush outraised
Gore among military personnel almost 2 to 1. Four years ago, Kerry did
better, but Bush raised $1.50 for every dollar Kerry raised.

And now the numbers have shifted to Obama, in a big way.

There are bound to be competing explanations for this shift, but the CRP
report talked to one soldier who explained why he wrote a check for Obama.

Army Specialist Jay Navas contributed $250 while deployed in Iraq,
but it wasn’t over the Internet. “It took some effort to get that check.
I had my mom send me my checkbook and I walked to the post office in
Camp Liberty in Baghdad with an envelope addressed to Barack Obama in
Chicago, Illinois,” he said. “He was right on Iraq long when others were
jumping into the sea like lemmings, and that’s hard to do. We’re
soldiers and we respect courage.”

Only the Coast Guard prefers Democrats across the board, with 78
percent of employees’ total federal contributions going to members of
that party, and Obama beating McCain $7,795 to $250. Navas anecdotally
confirmed that soldiers are often conservative but that many are making
an exception in the presidential race. “Most of my friends are
conservative Republicans and they say, ‘I’m voting for Barack.’ McCain
does not have a lock on the military vote, that’s for sure,” he said.
“We’ll complete our duty — I’m deploying next year — because it’s a
commitment I made to the nation, not to a president. But we all know
that Iraq was a big mistake.”

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com...ves/16555.html