Never Too Young

TINY TOTS OPEN THEIR PIGGY BANKS TO CANDIDATES You're never too young to make a campaign contribution, according to the Federal Election Commission, and bundlers are capitalizing on this loophole more than ever this election cycle. Because the FEC has not set any age limit on donations and doesn't ask donors' ages, parents looking to give more than the $2,300 limit per election are breaking open their kids' piggy banks (or trust funds) and contributing more in their names, listing their occupation as "student" in most cases. Having given $2.9 million already in the first nine months of this year, students (many of whom are over 18 and eligible to vote) have surpassed the $2.8 million in contributions they gave to presidential candidates in the entire 2004 election cycle. Democrats are collecting 69 percent of the money. Hillary Clinton has collected the most from students -- at least $836,000.

*Read more about 3rd Quarter contributions from students, along with other Q3 observations: http://www.capitaleye.org/inside.asp?ID=312

*Read the Washington Post article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/23/AR2007102301882.html

MILITARY CONTINUES TO GIVE TO PAUL, OBAMA:
Despite his anti-war stance, or perhaps because of it, Ron Paul has collected more money from members of the U.S. military than any other presidential candidate, including John McCain, a Vietnam War prisoner who backs the administration's policy in Iraq. Paul has brought in at least $53,670 from the uniformed services since the campaign's start, compared to McCain's $40,000. Democrat Barack Obama, who opposed the resolution to go to Iraq from the start, is the number-two recipient with at least $45,200. (Obama had been ahead of Paul after the 2nd Quarter.) The contribution record of the military has become less Republican since the Iraq war began, and some donors say they're contributing to express dissatisfaction with the Bush administration's handling of the war and foreign policy. Tallying donations exceeding $200, Democrats have received 35 percent of the total $319,000 in contributions from uniformed service members this year. By comparison, in 2000, the last presidential race before the Iraq war began, Democrats received only 18 percent of contributions from the military.

*Read a Capital Eye story from September about military giving: http://www.capitaleye.org/inside.asp?ID=300

BATTLE OF THE SEXES:
Hillary Clinton, the lone woman in the presidential field, is bringing in more money from female donors than any other candidate. But she doesn't have the largest number of female donors. That distinction belongs to Democrat Barack Obama, who has so far collected money from at least 22,045 women giving more than $200, compared to Clinton's 17,539. (Only donors who give more than $200 are itemized in campaign finance reports, so it's impossible to determine a gender breakdown for smaller donors.) Clinton is nearly tied with Democrat Dennis Kucinich in the percentage of total funds coming from women -- about 44 percent for both of them. Among Republicans, a larger number of women have given to Mitt Romney than any other candidate in the party, 8,801 donors giving a total of $12.1 million, or about 32 percent of his total. But with about 35 percent of his funds from women, dropout Sam Brownback's receipts from females make up the largest percentage of his total compared to all other GOP candidates.

*Presidential contributors by gender: http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/donordemCID_compare.asp?cycle=2008&cand1=N00000019&cand2=N00009638