Follow the Money

Posted at 10:21 AM on January 4, 2006 by Bob Collins

The Institute for Money in State Politics is out with a report looking at the dollar effect on the election of 2004 and the Upper Midwest comes up relatively clean, at least if you believe cleanliness is in inverse proportion to the number of dollars involved. And, of course, the showing is a comparison to other states so I'll leave it to you to decide whether it shows the region has the right idea, or the rest of the country is a cesspool of money-induced corruption that would make even a pig smell fresh.

Among the conclusions of the study is political contributions to state-level candidates is growing, spurred on mostly by party contributions. It also shows that "when combined, money and incumbency are nearly unstoppable." And contributors to legislative candidates favored the party that controlled the legislature after the 2004 elections.

North Dakota and South Dakota were two of only seven states where the House candidates all raises less than $10,000 on average.

Minnesota was also one of the lowest states in the number of dollars raised per voter ($2.83), with Nebraska ($1.70) and North Dakota ($1.13) the only two states under $2 per voter.

The full report (in pdf form) can be found here.

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