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Troops contribute more to Obama campaign

Military personnel are contributing more to Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois than to his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, according to a nonpartisan group tracking donations to candidates.

The Center for Responsible Politics says that in terms of total contributions during the 2008 election cycle, 859 service members have contributed a combined $335,536 to Obama as of June 30, an average of about $391 a person.

In comparison, 558 service members have contributed a combined $280,513 to Sen. John McCain, an average of $503 a person.

Running a close third in the contributions is Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, who has suspended his run for the Republican presidential nomination but has not formally dropped out of the race. He has received $232,411 in contributions from 537 military members, an average of $433 a person.

Looking just at contributions from service members with overseas addresses, McCain trails far behind Obama and Paul.

Obama got $60,642 in contributions from 134 military personnel, an average of $453 a person. Paul got $45,512 from 99 military personnel, an average of $460 a person, while McCain received $10,665 from 26 people, an average of $410 a person.

Considering the overall size of the military and the number of people deployed, the number of military personnel making contributions to the presidential political campaigns is very small, making it difficult to draw any conclusions about what the data say about overall support for the candidates.

Another factor is that the total contributions show military members favor Republicans over Democrats when money given to candidates who have dropped out of the race is included.

Records show 1,235 military personnel have contributed a total of $502,586 to Democratic presidential candidates while 1,459 have contributed a total of $648,125 to Republicans.

In 2004, President Bush raised about 50 percent more money from military personnel than his Democratic challenger, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

In 2000, Bush raised twice as much from military members as Democratic candidate Al Gore.