Although President-elect Obama has continued to press his campaign promise to change business as usual by limiting the influence of lobbyists and moneyed interests, two new studies suggest that some old traditions linger. Although Obama got nearly half of his campaign contributions in dollops of $200 or less, The Campaign Finance Institute found that only about one quarter of his money came from donors whose contributions totaled $200 or less. Obama received 80 percent more money from large donors than small ones--and much more than his rivals or predecessors. It also appears, the Institute study says, that close to a majority of the large-donor money came through the now-standard "bundling" of smaller contributions.
Some of those responsible for the bundling have made it onto the transition team, says the Center for Responsive Politics. The Center turned up 14 transition team members who raised at least $50,000 for Obama's campaign. The report also found 23 members who are or have been federally registered lobbyists over the past decade--although transition rules forbid them from lobbying while on the transition effort, or from working in policy areas on which they've lobbied in the past year.
--Julie Kosterlitz
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