This has been an astoundingly expensive presidential campaign — more than $1 billion spent since the primaries.
How much did federal employees contribute? We decided to take a look at the donor database for both candidates.
Barack Obama seems to have the fundraising edge among feds: his donations outpaced John McCain’s by about 13 percent.
Defense Department employees contributed nearly half of the total amount donated by feds — not surprising, since Defense is by far the largest federal agency. The Agriculture Department seems to have contributed the least: just $250 for Obama, and nothing for McCain.
The agency-by-agency numbers are after the jump.
| Department | Obama | McCain |
|---|---|---|
| Agriculture | 250 | 0 |
| Commerce | 3,550 | 6,800 |
| Defense | 45,675 | 66,539 |
| Education | 5,300 | 3,300 |
| Energy | 3,250 | 13,250 |
| Health and Human Services | 13,800 | 4,400 |
| Homeland Security | 5,650 | 13,401 |
| Housing and Urban Development | 550 | 0 |
| Interior | 1,300 | 5,251 |
| Justice | 43,316 | 12,546 |
| Labor | 1,000 | 4,100 |
| State | 48,900 | 37,000 |
| Transportation | 2,131 | 1,500 |
| Treasury | 4,900 | 1,000 |
| Veterans Affairs | 17,209 | 2,450 |
| Total | 196,781 | 171,537 |
One caveat: These numbers aren’t 100% comprehensive, because the campaigns don’t have to report information on donors who give less than $200.
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