Bachmann Leads Minnesota House Delegation in Campaign Contributions by Individuals and Small Donors

Last Spring, Smart Politics explained how while the headline coming from the Federal Elections Commission Q1 2009 reports on the fundraising by Minnesota’s U.S. House delegation was that Republican Michele Bachmann outraised all of her Gopher State colleagues by nearly $100,000, the story beneath the headline was that Bachmann was building her campaign warchest not from the contributions of political action committees (PACs), but from ‘the people’ – individual contributors.

Now, for the second consecutive quarter, Representative Bachmann again demonstrates her significant grassroots appeal by leading the Minnesota U.S. House delegation in three key facets of campaign fundraising:

1) The most contributions received from individual donors,
2 )The largest percentage of contributions received from individual donors, and
3) The largest net amount and percentage of individual contributions received from small donors (those donating less than $200)

Although fellow Republican Erik Paulsen raised the most money among the Gopher State’s eight U.S. House Representatives from April through June of this year ($356,891, besting Rep. Bachmann by more than $71,000), the Congresswoman raised the most money from individual donors – by nearly $15,000 over Paulsen and more than $99,000 over DFLer Jim Oberstar, who came in third on this dimension of fundraising.

Q2 2009 Campaign Contributions by Individuals to Minnesota’s U.S. Representatives

Rank	Representative	Amount
1	Michele Bachmann	$232,220
2	Erik Paulsen	$217,651
3	Jim Oberstar	$132,907
4	John Kline	$125,231
5	Keith Ellison	$112,807
6	Tim Walz	$106,041
7	Collin Peterson	$50,525
8	Betty McCollum	$29,414

Source: FEC data.

In continuing to build her grassroots fundraising campaign, Representative Bachmann also received the largest percentage of campaign contributions from individuals among the state’s eight representatives. At 81.4 percent, Bachmann bested by one percentage point the proportion she raised from individuals in Q1 2009 (80.4 percent).

The Congresswoman thus received the lowest percentage of campaign receipts from PACs among the eight Gopher State U.S. Representatives, at just 18.6 percent of her total campaign contributions.

By comparison, Rep. Paulsen raised more than twice as large a percentage of his second quarter receipts from PACs as did Bachmann (38.8 percent), while DFLer Betty McCollum raised more than three times as large a percentage (56.7 percent), and DFLer Collin Peterson raised nearly four times as large a percentage (73.6 percent).

Q2 2009 Percentage of Individual vs. PAC Contributions to Minnesota’s U.S. Representatives

Rank	Representative	% Individuals	% PACs
1	Michele Bachmann	81.4	18.6
2	Keith Ellison	73.8	26.2
3	John Kline	65.7	34.3
4	Erik Paulsen	61.0	38.8
5	Tim Walz	58.9	40.5
6	Jim Oberstar	55.7	44.3
7	Betty McCollum	43.3	56.7
8	Collin Peterson	26.4	73.6

Note: FEC data compiled by Smart Politics. Walz and Paulsen also received 0.6 and 0.1 percent of their contributions from political party committees respectively.

It is not surprising that those Minnesota U.S. Representatives who have the longest tenure on Capitol Hill are also those who received the largest percentage of their contributions from PACs (Peterson, McCollum, and Oberstar).

However, even looking at the data within individual contributions, it is evident that Bachmann is mobilizing small donors at a greater clip than any other member of the Gopher State delegation.

Bachmann was the only member of the Minnesota U.S. House delegation to raise more than $100,000 from small donors ($101,245) in the second quarter of 2009. The Congresswoman raised 3.3 times more money from small donors than Erik Paulsen ($31,051), 4.4 times more than Tim Walz ($22,921), 4.8 times more than Collin Peterson ($21,174), 6.3 times more than John Kline ($15,956), 16.8 times more than Betty McCollum ($6,039), and 72 times more than Jim Oberstar ($1,407).

Only Keith Ellison, at $95,015, came close to approaching the kind of money raised by Bachmann from small donors.

Congresswoman Bachmann also raised the largest percentage of individual contributions from small donors, with 43.6 percent of such money raised in amounts of less than $200. Bachmann also led the Gopher State U.S. House delegation on this dimension in Q1 2009, with 31.8 percent.

Q2 2009 Small Donor Individual Contributions to Minnesota’s U.S. Representatives

Rank	Rep.	% Small Donors	% Large Donors	Small Donors	Large Donors
1	Michele Bachmann	43.6	56.4	$101,245	$130,975
2	Collin Peterson	41.9	58.1	$21,174	$29,351
3	Tim Walz	21.6	78.4	$22,921	$83,120
4	Betty McCollum	20.5	79.5	$6,039	$23,375
5	Keith Ellison	15.8	84.2	$95,015	$17,792
6	Erik Paulsen	14.3	85.7	$31,051	$186,600
7	John Kline	12.7	87.3	$15,956	$109,275
8	Jim Oberstar	1.1	98.9	$1,407	$131,500

Note: FEC data compiled by Smart Politics.

While Representative Bachmann gets called many names from Minnesotans on the political left who disagree with her conservative policy positions, this continuing pattern of FEC data demonstrates it cannot be said that Bachmann is raising her money by cozying up to the Washington “fat cats.”

The Congresswoman’s ability to raise money from individual citizens remains unparalleled among her current Gopher State U.S. House colleagues.

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