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November 07, 2006BELTWAY BLOGROLL
Blog Donors
Kos has a couple of favorites this election year, and neither of them is Ned Lamont.
Federal Election Commission records show that Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas Zuniga has contributed a few thousand dollars to congressional candidates this year. The bulk of the money has gone to Democratic Senate candidates Jon Tester in Montana and James Webb in Virginia.
Moulitsas gave each of them $250 on June 26, and he donated another $1,000 to each of their campaigns Sept. 18. The latest FEC reports indicate that he has given a total of $1,825 to Tester this election cycle and $1,300 to Webb. The totals for the cycle include donations of less than $200, the threshold at which candidates are required to itemize contributions.
Moulitsas' only other contribution of $200 or more this year was for $250 to former Rep. Ciro Rodriguez on Feb. 2. Rodriguez, a favorite of Demoratic bloggers in the primary season, lost his rematch with Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar in March.
While a name search of FEC records did not reveal any donations from Moulitas to Lamont, the Connecticut Senate candidate vaulted to prominence earlier this year by the Democratic netroots has received some money from other high-profile Democratic bloggers.
The biggest blog donor surge for Lamont came early in his campaign. Matt Stoller of MyDD contributed $500 on Feb. 17. The FEC report identifies him as a self-employed blogger. Chris Bowers, another MyDD blogger, donated $250 three days later, and Stirling Newberry of The Agonist and TPMCafe gave $250 the same day as Stoller.
Duncan Black of Eschaton has not made any donations of $200 or more to Lamont, according to a name search at the FEC Web site. But he, too, has been an active political contributor this cycle. Based in Philadelphia, Black appears to have a preference for homegrown House candidates named Murphy. He gave $200 to Patrick Murphy last December and another $200 to the unrelated Lois Murphy in May.
On Sept. 13, Black also gave $250 to Vote Vets, a political action committee whose mission is to elect to Congress Democrats who served in the military in Afghanistan and Iraq but who are critical of ongoing war efforts.
Top bloggers on the left are not alone in contributing to political candidates. In fact, top Republican bloggers Hugh Hewitt of Townhall and John Hinderaker of Power Line have dug deeper into their pockets to try to boost their favored campaigns.
Hewitt's favorites this year are GOP Sens. Jon Kyl of Arizona and Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, both of whom are locked in tight races. (Santorum appears headed for defeat.) Hewitt gave $2,000 to Kyl on June 26 and $1,000 to Santorum on Oct. 18. An FEC search of Hewitt's name revealed a string of political donations to various candidates dating back to the late 1990s.
Hinderaker's contributions also stretched back that far. This election cycle, he has donated the following itemized amounts: $2,400 to Rep. Mark Kennedy, the GOP Senate candidate in Minnesota, where Hinderaker lives; and $2,100 to Michele Bachmann, a GOP House candidate in the Gopher State. Hinderaker's wife, Loree, donated another $400 to Bachmann, according to an FEC search.
Posted by Danny | 12:01 PM
