Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Congress / Politics / Woods Follow the Money: $23M Spent on 2008 Tennessee Elections
Posted by Jeff Woods on Tue, Apr 14, 2009 at 2:33 PM
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Political parties and state-level candidates raked in $23 million in Tennessee during the 2008 election cycle. That's according to the National Institute for Money in State Politics, which has posted all the campaign finance data at FollowtheMoney.org. Highlights:
* The average House race raised $43,000 and the average Senate race collected $180,000. Political parties gathered $6.6 million in contributions.
* Lawyers and lobbyists gave almost $1.5million, a 74 percent jump from 2004. Over twice as much money was channeled through leadership PACs controlled by state politicians. The $1.1 million from health professionals and $900,000 from the real estate industry was double the amount from those industries in 2004.
* The most striking change is the amount raised by senators not up for election. They raised almost $1 million, six times the amount they raised in 2004.
* 196 House candidates collected $8,438,759 for an average of $43,055, and 39 Senate candidates collected $7,012,743 for an average of $179,814.
* Outside of party-related PACs, the top PAC contributor to legislative campaigns was Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey's RAAMPAC with $408,800, followed by former House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh's Speaker's Fund at $395,500. (Ramsey also handed out another $218,180 from his separate Senate campaign account.)
* Top PAC donor not controlled by a politician was Federal Express with $378,500, followed by PACs representing Realtors, trial lawyers, doctors, the Plumbers and Pipefitters Union, teachers and National Health Corp., the nursing home chain that's pushing the bill to cap lawsuit damages for abusing residents.
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