Who’s money?

Analysis:

This Press story, which ran in the “Briefs” section of the paper on page B12 looked at how much Senate incumbent Debbie Stabenow has for her campaign. Beyond the figure of $5.7 million, the story doesn’t look at what individuals or Political Action Committees have been the primary donors to her re-election bid. The story does mention the source for the amount of money raised by Stabenow, the Center for Responsive Politics, but no details about where the money has come from. According to the site about 80% of the money is from individual contributions and 20% from PAC money. Readers should ask themselves if details on the larger contributors is useful information in an election cycle?

Story:

US Senator Debbie Stabenow heads into the 2006 election year with nearly $5.7 million on hand, her campaign said Wednesday. The Democratic incumbent continues to have a wide fundraising lead over her potential Republican rivals. She raised about $1.3 million in the last three months of 2005 and a total of $5 million for the year. Since becoming a senator in 2001, she has raised $8.1 million, according to campaign records and the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Campaign finance reports for 2005 aren’t officially due until Jan. 31. But some candidates have released early estimates of how much they expect to raise. Three Republicans – Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard and ministers Keith Butler and Jerry Zandstra – are seeking to unseat Stabenow in November.