In the Money

When it comes to landing cash contributions from North Texas executives, John McCain is king. Through July 2008, about 237 contributions from North Texas business leaders generated $320,000 for McCain’s coffers. That beat Barack Obama’s business-related contributions by roughly a third. Yet Obama outpaced McCain by landing nearly a fifth more individual donations from North Texas executives, even though those execs gave only roughly half as much as McCain’s contributors on average. What about those who give money to both sides? Are they successfully hedging their bets? Not necessarily, says University of Texas at Dallas associate professor of political science Tom Brunell. “People know you’re straddling both sides of the fence,” Brunell says. “It indicates a much lower level of support.”