BR'ER BUSH FEELIN' FINE IN THE BRIAR PATCH :

As Cash Flows, Republicans Win, Survey Says (Thomas B. Edsall, June 3, 2002, washingtonpost.com)

The survey of donors, described by Clyde Wilcox of Georgetown University, John C. Green of the University of Akron and four others, found that 15 percent of the respondents said they would capitalize on the higher contributing limits.

These "expanded givers" were decisively more Republican -- including more men -- and were wealthier than the entire sample.

"Expanded givers tend to be wealthy, middle-aged businessmen" who support tax cuts, are disproportionately strong Republicans and strong conservatives. Their increased participation "is likely to intensify the existing, upper-status bias of the donor pool and reduce the representation of women," the authors wrote in the magazine Public Perspective.

Five percent of the donors surveyed said they will reduce the amounts they give, generally to voice their opposition to increased political spending. These "reduced givers" are far more Democratic than the expanded givers.

Don't get me wrong, I still think it's unconstitutional and that every one who voted for it should be impeached, along with President Bush for signing it, but at the end of the day he's just a politician--how could he resist? Saddam's Republican Guard would practically have to be goosestepping down Pennsylvania Avenue for an incumbent Republican to lose a presidential race with these Campaign Finance rules in effect. Posted by Orrin Judd at June 4, 2002 7:15 AM