Presidential race has many small donors

WASHINGTON -- It's not just the rich who are paying the bills of the multimillion-dollar presidential campaigns this year.

Waitresses, salespeople, technicians and retirees are making multiple small donations and fueling the campaign committees of four of the five candidates, according to records.

Although billionaires have sunk millions of dollars into super PACs and the wealthy have paid $5,000 a plate at fundraisers, thousands of others giving $10, $25 or $50 gifts now account for a bigger share of presidential campaign funds than they did four years ago.

"For the presidential candidates, it's a small-donor election cycle, which stands in stark contrast to the super PACs and nonprofits," said Sheila Krumholz of the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign money.

Experts say the donations are driven by the ease of giving on the Internet, the passions inspired by populist platforms and campaigns appealing to small donors.

It's a national trend that's showing up on Long Island.

Take Timothy Dutra, 34, of Long Beach, general manager at a Valley Stream doughnut store. On Jan. 28, he gave $27.38 to Republican Ron Paul, the most recent of his half-dozen contributions that now total $548.88, campaign finance records show.

"I believe in the guy," said Dutra. His usual donation is $37.88, an amount he set by adding the dates 1776 and 2012. "It's what I can afford."

Retirees donate monthly

Retirees Harry and Joyce Luebbe of Miller Place gave President Barack Obama $620 in monthly checking account deductions of $25.

"I just like everything about him," said Joyce Luebbe, 86, who said she made her first donation in 2009. Since then, "They flood you with correspondence," said Harry Luebbe, 89.

Obama spurred the small-donor surge in 2008, and in this election he's leveraging a national list of 13 million donors he built then.

Individual donations of less than $200 accounted for 47 percent of Obama's $130.7 million total in this election cycle, up from 24 percent of the $131.8 million he had raised at this point in 2008, a Campaign Finance Institute analysis said.

For Republicans overall, the change has been more modest.

Small donors gave 26 percent of the $164.6 million raised by GOP hopefuls this cycle, up from 19 percent of the $238.3 million they raised in 2008, said the institute, which analyzes campaign funding.

Republican Mitt Romney, who's running a traditional campaign that relies on large contributors, has gotten just 9 percent from small donors.

"He has the highest percentage of large donors of anybody I've ever seen," said Michael Malbin, the institute's head.

But small donors represent 39 percent of Paul's total, 46 percent of Newt Gingrich's and 48 percent of Rick Santorum's.

"It's striking that three of the four Republicans left standing are running campaigns that are being fueled by small donors," Malbin said.

On Long Island, the picture of small donors is incomplete, because campaigns don't have to identify people who give less than $200 by name or location.

But among donors of $200 to $1,000, Long Island largely reflects the national trends, according to a Newsday analysis of campaign finance reports.

For Paul, the analysis found that these donors represent 57 percent of what he raised nationally and 53 percent on Long Island; for Gingrich, 44 percent and 36 percent, and Romney, 11 percent and 8 percent. Santorum raised too little on Long Island to compare.

Obama raised 47 percent from those donors nationally, the Campaign Finance Institute found. But Newsday's analysis shows that he received just 27 percent of his Long Island funds from them. That's because he collected 44 percent of his total from those who gave the maximum $5,000.

Still, the same forces driving small donors to give across the nation are found on the Island.

Internet makes giving easy

Small-business owner Peter Helfrich of Stony Brook said he believes in Paul's message, and he donated money and bought a bumper sticker on the Internet because "it's easy."

New York Democratic Party chairman Jay Jacobs said grassroots fervor and passion for a candidate spurs small donors of both parties. Many are "fed up" and emerged from the tea party and Occupy Wall Street movement.

"These are not people who are donating money for access or who hope to go to an event because they might see someone," Jacobs said. "These are people who actually believe in the candidate."