All Over Albany

Where has the Capital Region put its money in the presidential race?

AOA was curious about how much money people in the Capital Region have contributed to presidential campaigns. So, we looked up the data from the Federal Elections Commission and broke it down according to zip code groups (120, 121, 122, and so on) and candidates still left in the race (Clinton, Obama, McCain -- sorry, no Huckabee). Probably not surprisingly, the Capital Region has bet its money on Hillary...

Capital Region Totals

candidate	total contributions	avg contribution
Hillary Clinton	$256,907	$474.87
Barack Obama	$112,772	$176.48
John McCain	$45,472	$147.16

But what exactly do we mean by "Capital Region"? For the purposes of this breakdown, we used zip codes startings with 120, 121, 122, 123 and 128 -- which shakes out like this (somewhat helpful map from FEC):

zip code group	includes parts of these counties
120xx	Albany, Schenectady, Columbia, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Montgomery, Greene, Schoharie, Fulton (mostly the western part of the area)
121xx	Albany, Schenectady, Columbia, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Montgomery, Greene, Schoharie, Fulton, Otsego (mostly the northwestern part of the area)
122xx	Albany
123xx	Schnectady
128xx	Saratoga, Warren, Washington, Hamilton, Essex (mostly the northeastern part of the area)

OK, on to the good stuff...

Zip Code Group Totals, By Candidate

zip code group	Clinton	Obama	McCain
120xx	$74,370	$23,515	$8,438
121xx	$34,946	$22,314	$14,207
122xx	$97,053	$27,978	$9,371
123xx	$32,320	$11,802	$2,361
128xx	$18,218	$27,163	$11,095
total	$256,907	$112,772	$45,472

Zip Code Group Totals, By Overal Party Contributions (all candidates)

zip code group	Democrats	Republicans	total
120xx	$109,898	$86,433	$196,331
121xx	$74,390	$107,977	$182,367
122xx	$149,607	$78,082	$227,689
123xx	$57,957	$37,293	$95,250
128xx	$60,931	$108,458	$169,389
total	$452,783	$418,243	$871,026

fine print: All data from the Federal Elections Commission. Numbers appear to span from the beginning of 2007 to the end of January 2008.

A few thoughts:
+ Hillary has gotten more contributions than both Obama and McCain combined. In fact, she's gotten more money statewide than all Republicans combined.
+ Obama's biggest total ($27,978) came from the zip code group right in the middle of Albany, but his only zip code win (so to speak) came in the 128xx group (the northeastern part of the region).
+ McCain didn't top a single zip code group. And statewide, his money total still trails that of Rudy Giuliani, who's dropped out.
+ The Capital Region's share of the Clinton campaign's January Dunkin Donuts bill: $2.29.

photo composite: Obama - Flickr user seiu_international, McCain - Flickr user marcn, Clinton - Flickr user marcn -- all used under a Create Commons Attribution license