Fundrace2004 Neighbor Search (kottke.org)

Fundrace2004, which is shaping up to be an extremely interesting and unique source of election information, has a new feature called Neighbor Search. You put in an address (or ZIP) or the name of a friend/neighbor/co-worker/celebrity and it returns the names, addresses, company names & job functions, and campaign contributions for persons matching the search criteria. Like all public data sets that have previously been available only in dusty books or individually by request (allow 6-10 weeks for delivery), the effect of seeing this data in aggregate and being able to slice it and dice it at will is both thrilling and a little unnerving. Ain't the Internet grand?

Here are a few people and their contributions:

Bill Gates: George W. Bush, $2000
George H.W. Bush: George W. Bush, $2000
Craig Barrett (Intel CEO): Joe Lieberman, $2000; George W. Bush, $2000
Harvey Weinstein (Miramax): Howard Dean, $2000; John Edwards, $2000; Dick Gephardt, $1000; and possibly Wesley Clark, $2000
Larry Lessig: Howard Dean, $2000; John Edwards, $2000
Warren Buffett: Bob Graham, $2000; Wesley Clark, $2000
Jimmy Buffett: Bob Graham, $2000; Wesley Clark, $2000
P. Diddy: Al Sharpton, $2000

Also of interest is this map of Manhattan showing political contributions by building. Lots of Republicans on the UES and lots of Democrats below 14th Street...no surprise there. (via reBlog)

Reader Comments

32 comments

Bryan says:

"Unnerving" is right. This is amazing.

» by Bryan on Mar 17, 2004 at 06:08 PM

Andy Baio says:

My neighborhood is pretty happening. Christopher Guest and Jamie Lee Curtis live on my street.

» by Andy Baio on Mar 17, 2004 at 06:13 PM

jkottke says:

Donald Trump gave $2000 each to Bush and Kerry, the CEO of Time Warner gave $2000 to Bush, type designer Tobias Frere-Jones (who designed the excellent Interstate font family) gave $250 to Dean, and Joan Jett gave $1000 to Dean.

» by jkottke on Mar 17, 2004 at 06:27 PM

Scott Johnson says:

I bet some people are going to get really mad about this. Sure, it's always been available, but that doesn't really seem to sink in for most people until it's on a web site where anybody can pull up that information within seconds.

» by Scott Johnson on Mar 17, 2004 at 07:33 PM

Shane Cavanaugh says:

Steve Jobs' wife gave $2000 to Gephardt and Dean.

Scott: I agree. I'm perturbed by that fact that I now know where P. Diddy lives. Also by the fact that I googled "Laurene Jobs" to see if she was Steve's wife.

» by Shane Cavanaugh on Mar 17, 2004 at 07:51 PM

clappstar says:

The first zip code I thought of to type in was 90210 (remember the TV show?).

Very interesting. I'd like to see the maps of support people could make from this info.

» by clappstar on Mar 17, 2004 at 08:20 PM

Sunny says:

I see a trend that the media (tv, movie) types are donating to Democrats in general. Is it any surprise that last few copyright extensions have been Democrat led bills in the Congress?

» by Sunny on Mar 17, 2004 at 09:02 PM

Firas says:

Exactly what I was thinking... Jack Valenti.

Yeah, and the address-leak potential is worrying.

» by Firas on Mar 17, 2004 at 09:09 PM

Joseph says:

George Soros (Investor): Kerry $2000, Graham $2000, Clark $2000, Dean $1000.
Adam Yauch (Beastie Boy): Clark $1000.
Henry Kissinger (fmr Sec of State): Bush $3000.
Rupert Murdoch (CEO News Corp): Bush $2000.
Ted Danson (actor): Dean $2000, Edwards $2000.
Davis Love III (golfer): Bush $2000.
Jerry Springer (talk show host): Kucinich $2000.

» by Joseph on Mar 17, 2004 at 10:42 PM

spygeek says:

No one famous in my Twin Cities neighborhood, not that I was expecting celebrities. I thought it interesting that most of the Dean and Kerry supporters in my area donated smaller amounts of $500 or less, yet every single Bush supporter donated $2,000.

» by spygeek on Mar 17, 2004 at 11:18 PM

jkottke says:

Kissinger gave Bush $3000? I thought you could only give $2000 to each candidate. Hmmm....

» by jkottke on Mar 17, 2004 at 11:28 PM

jkottke says:

Ben Affleck ($2000 to Clark and $1000 to Kucinich) and Charlize Theron ($1000 to Kerry).

» by jkottke on Mar 18, 2004 at 12:02 AM

mark says:

Howard Dean: George W. Bush, $2000.
John Edwards: Bush, Clark, Gephardt and Dean. And Edwards.
John Kerry gives to no man.

» by mark on Mar 18, 2004 at 12:31 AM

refurberator says:

Affleck gave $1000 to Kucinich? This explains some of his script choices.

» by refurberator on Mar 18, 2004 at 12:55 AM

refurberator says:

Guess who won Ben Stein's money? George Bush.. $1000 bucks...

» by refurberator on Mar 18, 2004 at 12:57 AM

Paul says:

Help! I'm surrounded by Republicans!

» by Paul on Mar 18, 2004 at 09:46 AM

b says:

I think you sort of misread the map of NYC. It looks to me like there were many buildings on the UES that gave Republicans between $200 and $25,000, but if you look carefully, there are more than a few buildings that gave Dems over $25K or over $50K. It's a tough map to read. Too bad you can't view a Dem only map and a GOP only map.

» by b on Mar 18, 2004 at 10:17 AM

b says:

Oh, and I love how if you look at the map of DC, they all but eliminated Southeast from the map. For those not familiar with DC, SE is historically a poverty/crime ridden section of the District.

» by b on Mar 18, 2004 at 10:19 AM

Greg says:

I believe the Bill Gates figure is phony... why would he be listed as "CEO" of Microsoft when, in fact, Steve Ballmer has been CEO of Microsoft since January of 2000? Gates is now "Chairman and Chief Software Architect."

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/bod/

I had heart that he was a Democrat, in any case, but being Canadian I don't pay ultra-close attention to such things.

» by Greg on Mar 18, 2004 at 12:27 PM

Adam says:

Not to be snide, but how I love the fact that Sean Combs apparently believes himself to be an "enterperneur."

» by Adam on Mar 18, 2004 at 12:30 PM

Peter says:

well no wonder dean didn't win!

» by Peter on Mar 18, 2004 at 01:39 PM

Dave says:

Jeb (John Ellis) Bush, Gov of FL: $1,000 to GWB. Why not $2,000? Where's the love?

» by Dave on Mar 18, 2004 at 01:42 PM

Peter says:

...and to the readers of doonesbury, i don't suppose this is any surprise: Garry Trudeau, Cartoonist: $2,000 to Howard Dean.

» by Peter on Mar 18, 2004 at 01:53 PM

Jon says:

Here in Cincinnati, the Reynolds family sticks out in a sea of red.

Mercer Reynolds has been invovled most business and political success W has ever had. For his service, Bush made him ambassador to Switzerland.

Good to see that his kids get jobs in the White House. They must pay their interns well, as Jimmy ponied up 2G for the cause.

» by Jon on Mar 18, 2004 at 02:16 PM

Paul Smith says:

Aaron Sorkin:

Edwards: $2000
Gephardt: $2000
Clark: $2000
Dean: $1000

Wait a sec ... I'm starting to think West Wing had a liberal bias ...

» by Paul Smith on Mar 18, 2004 at 02:34 PM

Bob says:

This one has been around for a long time.

It's amazing what you can find.

» by Bob on Mar 18, 2004 at 02:34 PM

Adam says:

Bob, that's the point of reblog.

» by Adam on Mar 18, 2004 at 03:41 PM

finsburgh says:

Jews seem to give a lot

» by finsburgh on Mar 18, 2004 at 03:43 PM

Nik says:

Is it me or did someone with the P.Diddy troupe misspell 'Entrepreneur'?

» by Nik on Mar 18, 2004 at 04:03 PM

dn says:

is $2000 really the max contribution? clearly some of these people can afford to give more than 2 G's...

» by dn on Mar 18, 2004 at 05:17 PM

Adam says:

Nik: http://www.kottke.org/04/03/fundrace2004-neighbor-search#12238

finsburgh: Even in the best of times, that wouldn't be a neutral observation. These are not the best of times.

» by Adam on Mar 18, 2004 at 06:19 PM

David says:

I'm not that interested in the political leanings of my neighbors, but I am a little interested in knowing who they are and what they do. Now I can find this out without actually talking to them! Hooray for the Web.

» by David on Mar 19, 2004 at 06:37 AM

This thread is closed to new comments. Thanks to everyone who responded.