• Brian Costar

30 October 2008It might seem an unlikely place to go for advice, but the US disclosure system is more transparent and much more timely than Australia’s, writes BRIAN COSTAR on our partner website, Inside Story

IN the New York Times this week journalists Michael Luo and Griff Palmer gave us an insight into the fundraising feats of Barack Obama and John McCain as we head into the last few weeks of the presidential campaign.

All the wonder, of course, has been at the huge sums that Senator Obama has been able to raise over the internet from small donors. What Luo and Griff point out, however, is that both candidates are receiving healthy amounts of cash in large donations.

The most generous donors to both sides come from within the securities and investment industries. (Haven’t they just gone bust?) Senator McCain gets most of the rest of his war chest from the real estate and gas and fuel industries, whereas Obama does best from lawyers, retirees and the entertainment industry. “Gordon V. Smith, a Maryland home builder, and his wife, Helen, gave $67,800 each to Mr McCain this year and attended a fund-raiser at the Ritz-Carlton in Tysons Corner,” report Luo and Palmer. “A dozen employees at Goldman Sachs wrote checks of $25,000 or more to Mr Obama.”...

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