We're Just Givers

Presidential candidates don't just come to California because we're rich. They come because we spend more money on national campaigns by proportion than any other state. Dan Morain cataloged the examples:

"A UCLA linebacker shells out $11,100 to help a Republican senator in Pennsylvania. A businessman from the small Northern California town of Eureka spends $515,000 to defeat a powerful Democrat in South Dakota.  A Silicon Valley couple funnels cash to elect Democratic secretaries of state in swing states like Ohio who will oversee voting in the coming presidential election"

That's the gravy. Here's the potatoes: "Californians spent at least $502 million on federal campaigns in the last four years, federal campaign records show — 24% more than runner-up New York and about 13 % of all federal campaign funds raised nationally."

Read the story here.