Mobile, AL political money — 2008 cycle

A presidential election cycle filtered to Mobile, AL

Presidential cycles include a presidential general election; midterm cycles do not. That is a calendar classification, not a finding about Mobile voters. $160,406 is still just the itemized overlap of MOBILE and 2008. 125 rows is a mid-size itemized file. Mean size is about $1,283. None of those facts explains why filers gave.

Relative to $33,896,317, 2008 is 0.47% (a thin slice of the citywide book). The other 99.5% of the city book, $33,735,911, sits in other even-year windows. Percentages here use the city aggregate only. National cycle totals are not in the packet.

Geography stored as MOBILE

Mobile sits in Mobile County, Alabama, on the Gulf. Birmingham, Montgomery, and Mobile, other-state namesakes, are not this Alabama key. Filers type the city. LobbyVault does not recode a suburb into a central city or a neighborhood into a Census place. A donor who typed a nearby name is not in $160,406 even if mail service looks similar.

The Mobile, AL hub remains the all-cycle view ($33,896,317). Alabama campaign finance remains the state view. The 2008 election cycle remains the national two-year view. This tie page is the filter where those stories meet.

Recipient location is not in these facts. Money itemized from a AL city can support committees that file from other states. Do not read $160,406 as a map of Alabama races.

Itemized only

Both $160,406 and $33,896,317 omit unitemized gifts. They omit independent expenditures. They omit state-office campaigns. They omit federal awards. Mixing any of those tables with this join invents a headline FEC.gov did not publish.

125 is a line count. Repeat contributors add lines. Unique-donor census figures are not here and are not estimated. All FEC ties points to other city-cycle intersections built from the same method.

Correlation is not causation

Placing Mobile next to 2008 does not mean the city caused the cycle or the cycle caused the city book. Two columns matched. Amended filings can move the dollars. If live hubs disagree with this snapshot, the newer FEC extract controls. Source: FEC.gov.

Itemization is a threshold rule, not a taste judgment. Gifts that never reached the FEC itemization line never enter $160,406 and never enter $33,896,317. Independent expenditures are disclosed on other forms. Committee-to-committee transfers are another table. State-office campaigns in Alabama file under state law. USAspending obligations are a different statute. Stacking any of those omitted tables onto $160,406 would publish a total the Commission did not publish for this city-cycle join.

Doors out of the Mobile × 2008 page

Use Mobile, AL for the city without a year filter, the 2008 election cycle for the national window, Alabama campaign finance for the state roll-up, and All FEC ties for sibling joins. Those four links are the intended next steps. This file does not list donor names or award recipients.

Operational definition: contributor city MOBILE in AL during election cycle 2008 equals $160,406 across 125 itemized individual contribution records. The same city label across every cycle in this extract equals $33,896,317. Subtracting the cycle from the book leaves $33,735,911 in other even-year windows. Those three dollar figures and the row count are the entire numeric inventory for this page. FEC.gov is the source. No donor names, committee IDs, occupation strings, or award recipients appear in the packet, so none are invented in this prose.

The Mobile, AL city hub, the 2008 election cycle hub, Alabama campaign finance, and All FEC ties are the four internal doors. The city hub answers the all-cycle question ($33,896,317). The cycle hub answers the national two-year question. The state hub answers the Alabama roll-up, which already contains Mobile when the same extract is used. All FEC ties lists sibling city-cycle pages. This URL is only the intersection of MOBILE and 2008.

Questions

How much did Mobile, AL donors give in the 2008 election cycle?

FEC itemized individual contributions from donors listing Mobile, AL total $160,406 in the 2008 cycle, across 125 contribution records. The same city label totals $33,896,317 across all cycles in this aggregate, so 2008 is 0.47% of that city stack. Figures are from FEC.gov city-by-cycle aggregates.

Is the Mobile, AL city total only for 2008?

No. The city aggregate of $33,896,317 covers every cycle in the table for MOBILE. The 2008 filter is $160,406 from 125 itemized gifts. Other cycles hold $33,735,911. Use the city hub for the all-cycle total and this tie page for the 2008 slice.

Did Mobile, AL 2008 donations stay in Alabama?

Not necessarily. Donor city is Mobile, AL; recipients can be committees anywhere that file with the FEC. This join does not allocate the $160,406 by office, state of the committee, or party. A AL city code is an address field on the individual receipt, not a map of Alabama races.

How many Mobile, AL contributions were itemized in 2008?

125 itemized contribution records sum to $160,406. That count is rows, not unique donors. The arithmetic mean is about $1,283 per row. Unitemized gifts below the FEC threshold and independent expenditures are not included. Citywide unique-donor counts are not in these facts.