American Express and the 2008 FEC election cycle

American Express crossed with 2008

Employer groupings sit on one axis; election cycles sit on the other. Rows that match both — American Express and 2008 — sum to $464,992. The cell holds 367 itemized contributions and 161 unique donors. The total is not an official organization disbursement and does not name recipients. Independent expenditures and committee transfers live in other FEC tables.

Neither the American Express hub nor the 2008 election cycle hub is this number; each hub drops one of the two keys. One hundred sixty-one donors and 367 lines in 2008 sit under the two-word card-network brand. Truncated AMEX rows are not inside this cell unless they grouped here. Card-network settlement files and USAspending awards to payment processors are different datasets. AMEX, AMERICAN EXPRESS CO, AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY, and generic CREDIT CARD occupation strings are other keys if filers used them.

9.4% of the American Express roll

The grouping’s stored total across cycles is $4,940,512 ($4.9 million). The 2008 slice of $464,992 is about 9.4% of that running sum. Other even-year windows hold the remaining 90.6%. Treating 2008 as the American Express FEC story would ignore that remainder.

Treat $4,940,512 as the denominator for the 9.4% share. It is not market capitalization, not revenue, and not proof of a multi-year political program. The industry hub is the year index for this string. This tie keeps 2008 from being folded silently into $4,940,512.

367 contributions from 161 donors

Dividing $464,992 by 367 contributions yields about $1,267 per itemized gift. Dividing by 161 donors yields about $2,888 per donor. Contributions per donor average about 2.3. Those means describe the arithmetic on the packet. They are not medians and not a party split.

161 unique donors are contributor identities, not a headcount of employees, licensees, or members. Retirees and household members who reuse a workplace or title can appear. Repeat gifts raise the contribution count faster than the donor count. The overlay for American Express 2008 holds the rows.

2008 as the cycle dimension

The 2008 election cycle hub includes every stored employer for that window. American Express is one cell in that matrix. This packet does not publish a cycle-wide denominator, so no national share is stated. Open the 2008 election cycle to drop the employer filter and American Express to drop the year.

Gifts from both years of the two-year FEC window sit in the $464,992 cell because the cycle is a two-year tag, not a single Tuesday. That mechanical fact is easy to forget when a searcher wants an election-night number. The overlay is where dates become visible. This join publishes the cycle total, the 367 contributions, the 161 unique donors, and the 9.4% share of $4,940,512.

Limits of the American Express × 2008 join

Itemized individual receipts are the universe. Unitemized gifts, independent expenditures, and PAC disbursements sit outside $464,992. Federal awards in other databases are different datasets. Sharing an employer string and a calendar year does not turn these gifts into contracts or grants. The page is not a credit-intermediation NAICS total and not an American Express PAC.

Correlation between an employer or occupation string and a cycle year is not causation. The records show a text match, a date window, 161 donors, and 367 contributions. AMEX, AMERICAN EXPRESS CO, AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY, and generic CREDIT CARD occupation strings are other keys if filers used them. All FEC ties lists other two-dimension pages.

Citing American Express and 2008 together

Start with $464,992, then American Express 2008 for rows, then the industry hub or the 2008 election cycle if a filter needs to come off. Citation template: American Express, 2008, $464,992, 367 contributions, 161 donors, 9.4% of $4,940,512, source FEC.gov. Keep neighboring spellings and occupation titles out of the total unless they grouped to this exact string.

The 9.4% share, the 161-donor count, and the $1,267 mean gift belong to this intersection. Carry them onto a successor label or a sibling occupation word and they stop being facts from this packet. This prose is a packet snapshot. If a later extract disagrees, FEC.gov and the live overlay control.

Questions

How much did American Express donors give in 2008?

FEC.gov aggregates show $464,992 in itemized individual contributions for the American Express grouping in the 2008 cycle, across 367 contributions and 161 donors. That sum is not a PAC total and not the $4,940,512 all-cycle figure.

What share of American Express FEC money is 2008?

The grouping’s all-cycle total is $4,940,512. The 2008 cell of $464,992 is about 9.4% of that figure. Other cycles hold the remaining 90.6% on the industry hub. The overlay lists itemized rows for this cell; the American Express hub holds other cycles; the 2008 election cycle hub holds other employer strings from the same window.

Is this American Express’s PAC or an official account?

No. $464,992 is itemized individual receipts whose employer or occupation text grouped to American Express. Committee PAC filings and official organization accounts sit outside this rollup unless an individual receipt itself carries the string. The key is not a credit-intermediation NAICS total and not an American Express PAC.

Where is the overlay for the American Express 2008 join?

Open American Express 2008 for the cycle overlay, American Express for the grouping hub, and the 2008 election cycle for the year without this employer filter. All FEC ties lists other two-dimension pages. This JSON file names the join; the overlay holds the itemized rows.