Academics Give Most Money to Obama

[illinoisprogressive]

Sometimes when I am asked "why do you support Barack Obama?" I reply "because I relate to him more than any politician in recent memory." We have a few trivial things in common in our backgrounds, but what amazes me most of all about him is he's a guy who's been living in Hyde Park and been one of the lefty members of the University of Chicago Law School (not a universal appraisal of a faculty that's sported Nino Scalia and Frank Easterbrook over the years) who is both an academic and has a widespread popular following well beyond the South Side. That is, to put it mildly, unusual.

It may also be part of the reason why academics this cycle have given more money to Obama than any other candidate, but I suspect the real reason is Obama's attempt to position himself as a Candidate for Change is resonating. More, including results that look promising for both Obama and Democrats as a whole, after the jump.

* Nuisance Industry's diary :: ::
*

The Center for Responsive Politics did an article on the political donations of academics and found that

Nearly four years after academia donated almost $30 million to unseat George W. Bush and Republicans, college professors and others in the education field have contributed more money to federal politics than the oil industry and drugmakers, with a nearly unanimous goal of putting a Democrat in the White House.

So far in the '08 election cycle, people who work for institutions of higher education have given more than $7 million to federal candidates, parties and committees, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Nearly 60 percent of that money has gone to presidential candidates. The industry's favorite, Barack Obama, has raked in nearly $1.5 million in the campaign's first six months, followed by Hillary Clinton with almost $940,000.

Perhaps one could write them (well, disclaimer, I must self-identify and say us) off as pointy-headed ivory-tower dwellers off on the margins of mainstream society, this next finding argues there's some muscle in the academic pocketbooks, in a way that looks very promising to the Democratic party (and not just Obama).

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/8/9/213726/4307