Obama Taps Deep Pockets
Corporate Workers Send Fatter Checks, Swing From Clinton
By BRODY MULLINS and MARY JACOBY
May 3, 2008; Page A5
WASHINGTON -- Big money is starting to place a big bet on Barack Obama.
While he has trumpeted his broad base of small-dollar Internet donors, recent campaign-finance documents show he is also drawing bigger checks from corporate contributors. Through the first three months of the year, employees of nine major industries -- from communications and defense to transportation and Wall Street -- gave the majority of their donations to the Illinois senator over rival Hillary Clinton. In 2007, those industries all favored New York Sen. Clinton in the Democratic race, according to figures compiled by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
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The swing in big checks from employees of big industries helps explain Sen. Obama's continued lead over Sen. Clinton in money, even as she has registered some of her best fund-raising months of the campaign through a surge in her own Internet donors. But the new industry figures could also undermine one of Sen. Obama's campaign's core messages: his independence from special interests. At a recent campaign stop in Indiana, which holds a primary Tuesday, Sen. Clinton told a rally: "He took more money from oil-company executives than any candidate."
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Of nine major industries, Sen. Clinton has raised more than Sen. Obama in only one in each of the first three months of the year. In February, Sen. Clinton bested Sen. Obama in donations from the defense industry. She raised $74,000 from defense employees that month, compared to Sen. Obama's $66,000 for February. Sen. Obama retook the lead in the defense sector in March. Overall in 2008, Sen. Obama has raised more than Sen. Clinton among defense employees.
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