Have you ever donated money to a politician, political campaign, or PAC?

[free my dawg]

I've donated a combined total of $150 so far to Ed FitzGerald's and Nina Turner's campaigns for Ohio Governor and Ohio Secretary of State, respectively. It does seem like a lot, but Ohio Dems rely heavily on these average donations from Ohioans and I just really want to see these 2 win this year for a variety of personal and political reasons.

I also donated $20.16 to the ReadyforHillary SuperPAC as well since I'd really like to see Hillary run and I did get some free bumper stickers from the PAC, so not a bad trade. I'm undecided if I'll donate anything to any of the Senate candidates this year or not, but I'll almost certainly donate to Portman's general election opponent in 2016 granted I can happily get behind the Democratic nominee.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

No (sane)

[J-Mann]

Yes. Too much, in fact. For you youngs on the site -- don't ever think that providing cash to a filthy politician somehow makes you more passionate about a cause. I know that if everyone felt the way I do, the Koch brothers would own every election (even more than they already may), but I wish I had back every dollar I'd ever given to Bush, Biden and Obama.

Seriously, I don't regret it ... I felt strongly enough at the time to chip in, but in hindsight, major candidates are going to get financial backing regardless of your donation. If I prefer a major, national-level candidate today, I support them through a vote only.

Local candidates, on the other hand ... I'm proud to have supported the few I have.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Sure. Well, I'm a party member... so there's that - but I do donate for specific projects/advertising drives etc.

[Indy Texas]

I gave some money to Claire McCaskill in 2012 after the whole Akin blowup. Which put me on the mailing list that she apparently whored out to every politician and PAC she could because now I'm getting emails from Al Franken's campaign asking for money and from Emily's List with the latest "War on Women" updates. Never again.

Honestly, I'd probably be more inclined to contribute if they'd leave me the hell alone afterwards.

[Lief 🗽]

I donated money to the Obama campaign twice, once in 2008 and again in 2012. I got a free bumper sticker each time.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

I don't get why donating or supporting candidates/campaigns you believe in is insane?

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Yes.  In fact, I sent out a few checks today.

[Flake]

Yes.  In fact, I sent out a few checks today.

To who?

[MyRescueKittehRocks]

10 USD to Jackie Walorski in 2010.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Yes.  In fact, I sent out a few checks today.

To who?

Three state representative candidates and a local judicial candidate.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Not really, but I did donate to Matthew Vines last year when he was launching his "Reformation Project. "

[dead0man]

I believe the kids today say "lolno" and that is my answer.

[muon2]

I gave some money to Claire McCaskill in 2012 after the whole Akin blowup. Which put me on the mailing list that she apparently whored out to every politician and PAC she could because now I'm getting emails from Al Franken's campaign asking for money and from Emily's List with the latest "War on Women" updates. Never again.

Honestly, I'd probably be more inclined to contribute if they'd leave me the hell alone afterwards.

Why was that surprising? A list of contacts associated with purchasers of a particular product or viewers of a certain website has been a commodity for a long time. Anyone who engages in economic activity and shares their contact info is likely to get on a list. Charities create lists of donors, too. We may not like who uses the lists we appear on, but they are a fact of modern life.

Contributions to a candidate are also economic activity. The candidate need not even be involved with the creation or distribution of the list. Depending on the state and the size of the donation transparency laws may make the donation public. In some cases candidates use third-party fundraisers who then have the list and may share it with other clients.

As to the question, I donated a little over $3K to political organizations in the 2nd quarter of 2014.

[AndrewTX]

Yeah, way too much. In the past 10 years, I'd say probably somewhere around 4-5K

[Mr. Illini]

I almost donated to Ron Paul a couple of years ago. Thankfully I did not.

I don't see any way that some of the Dems here in Illinois don't get something this Fall, though. It is sure to be full of really hard fought campaigns and I will be volunteering for some of them to begin with, so I'm guessing at some point I may throw some of my money at them as well. The things you do when you want a candidate to win bad enough. :/

[homelycooking]

Whenever I receive solicitations by mail from any political party, I return their self-addressed envelopes with an enclosed contribution of $0.02.

[© tweed]

Whenever I receive solicitations by mail from any political party, I return their self-addressed envelopes with an enclosed contribution of $0.02.

do they include paid postage on the envelope?

[homelycooking]

Even if they don't, I still mail in my contribution. The Postal Service can use the extra first-class mail volume, and I don't mind paying the extra $0.49 for the privilege of feeling like a cleverdick for a little while.

[DC Al Fine]

Even if they don't, I still mail in my contribution. The Postal Service can use the extra first-class mail volume, and I don't mind paying the extra $0.49 for the privilege of feeling like a cleverdick for a little while.

Better solution: Address the $0.02 to yourself and put the candidate's headquarters as the return address. Free mail.

[muon2]

Even if they don't, I still mail in my contribution. The Postal Service can use the extra first-class mail volume, and I don't mind paying the extra $0.49 for the privilege of feeling like a cleverdick for a little while.

Unfortunately its unlikely that anyone in a position to appreciate your cleverness will see it. If the solicitation is from a state or national party, some salaried clerical worker will open the mail. There's even some high likelihood that your donation will be discarded since it will cost more in time to process than the value of your gift. The one exception would be if the organization was actively trying to boost donations from small donors, when 1 cent would work for them as well.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I've donated a combined total of $150 so far to Ed FitzGerald's and Nina Turner's campaigns for Ohio Governor and Ohio Secretary of State, respectively. It does seem like a lot, but Ohio Dems rely heavily on these average donations from Ohioans and I just really want to see these 2 win this year for a variety of personal and political reasons.

I also donated $20.16 to the ReadyforHillary SuperPAC as well since I'd really like to see Hillary run and I did get some free bumper stickers from the PAC, so not a bad trade. I'm undecided if I'll donate anything to any of the Senate candidates this year or not, but I'll almost certainly donate to Portman's general election opponent in 2016 granted I can happily get behind the Democratic nominee.

Where are you magically getting the cash to finance this?

[LeBron]

I've donated a combined total of $150 so far to Ed FitzGerald's and Nina Turner's campaigns for Ohio Governor and Ohio Secretary of State, respectively. It does seem like a lot, but Ohio Dems rely heavily on these average donations from Ohioans and I just really want to see these 2 win this year for a variety of personal and political reasons.

I also donated $20.16 to the ReadyforHillary SuperPAC as well since I'd really like to see Hillary run and I did get some free bumper stickers from the PAC, so not a bad trade. I'm undecided if I'll donate anything to any of the Senate candidates this year or not, but I'll almost certainly donate to Portman's general election opponent in 2016 granted I can happily get behind the Democratic nominee.

Where are you magically getting the cash to finance this?

I work a minimum wage job and luckily for me, Ohio has a relatively higher minimum wage than other states ($7.95). That and I tend to conserve quite a bit of my money. TBF though, 1/3rd of that towards buying merchandise from FitzGerald's site webshop, another $50 went to Team FitzGerald to help keep his "Promise" ad on air as long as possible, and I gave $50 to Team Turner before, to.

[Panda Express]

I've donated a combined total of $150 so far to Ed FitzGerald's and Nina Turner's campaigns for Ohio Governor and Ohio Secretary of State, respectively. It does seem like a lot, but Ohio Dems rely heavily on these average donations from Ohioans and I just really want to see these 2 win this year for a variety of personal and political reasons.

I also donated $20.16 to the ReadyforHillary SuperPAC as well since I'd really like to see Hillary run and I did get some free bumper stickers from the PAC, so not a bad trade. I'm undecided if I'll donate anything to any of the Senate candidates this year or not, but I'll almost certainly donate to Portman's general election opponent in 2016 granted I can happily get behind the Democratic nominee.

Where are you magically getting the cash to finance this?

I tend to conserve quite a bit of my money.

How can you type this with a straight face when you're only making minimum wage and literally throwing away hundreds of dollars on random politicians? You do realize your donations won't actually make one iota of difference, right? Seriously dude, be smarter with your money. A FitzGerald coffee mug or whatever should be the last thing you buy.

[LeBron]

I've donated a combined total of $150 so far to Ed FitzGerald's and Nina Turner's campaigns for Ohio Governor and Ohio Secretary of State, respectively. It does seem like a lot, but Ohio Dems rely heavily on these average donations from Ohioans and I just really want to see these 2 win this year for a variety of personal and political reasons.

I also donated $20.16 to the ReadyforHillary SuperPAC as well since I'd really like to see Hillary run and I did get some free bumper stickers from the PAC, so not a bad trade. I'm undecided if I'll donate anything to any of the Senate candidates this year or not, but I'll almost certainly donate to Portman's general election opponent in 2016 granted I can happily get behind the Democratic nominee.

Where are you magically getting the cash to finance this?

I tend to conserve quite a bit of my money.

How can you type this with a straight face when you're only making minimum wage and literally throwing away hundreds of dollars on random politicians? You do realize your donations won't actually make one iota of difference, right? Seriously dude, be smarter with your money. A FitzGerald coffee mug or whatever should be the last thing you buy.

Dude, this is a campaign I'm actively involved in. I've interned for FitzGerald before and my family knows him and his wife from church. They aren't "random politicians" to me and yes, I am only one person, but collectively together from all other actively involved Ohio Democrats who've donated to FitzGerald makes up a huge chunk of his total campaign contributions. Should FitzGerald win (which I'm fairly confident on), then we have the ability to say we financially and actively helped FitzGerald become Governor.