Denver, CO political money — 2008 cycle

The 2008 overlap for Denver, CO

$976,756 is the overlap of two FEC dimensions: contributor city DENVER with state CO, and election cycle 2008. The match is $976,756 across 889 itemized contribution rows. The city side of the table, covering every cycle in the aggregate, is $238,927,176. 2008 therefore accounts for 0.41% of Denver, CO itemized individual dollars in these facts. The remaining $237,950,420 (99.59%) was itemized in other cycles under the same city label.

This is not a restatement of Denver, CO. That hub mixes 2008 with every other even-year window filed under DENVER. It is also not a restatement of the 2008 election cycle hub, which mixes Denver, CO with every other donor city in the United States. The 889 rows and $976,756 exist only where both filters are true. Correlation is not causation: a city code plus a cycle year does not prove why someone gave.

FEC individual contribution files record the contributor's city as entered on the itemized receipt. Spellings and suburb-versus-city choices can split a metro across multiple city pages. Denver, CO here is the string that survived aggregation as DENVER in CO. 2008 is a presidential FEC cycle: a two-year window that includes a presidential general election. That calendar fact does not explain why Denver, CO donors itemized $976,756. Source: FEC.gov individual contribution aggregates by donor city and election cycle.

What the Denver, CO city book includes

The city aggregate for Denver, CO is $238,927,176 in itemized individual contributions. That figure is the running total for this city label across cycles, not a single-year census and not a count of unique residents. It includes the $976,756 from 2008 and the $237,950,420 from every other cycle in the same city file. State-level CO campaign-finance pages still mix Denver with every other city in CO.

The stored city is the City and County of Denver, Colorado. Aurora, Boulder, and Lakewood are not rolled into DENVER. State CO stays on the citation so Denver, CO is not merged with a same-named place in another state. $238,927,176 is the CO key only. For Denver, CO, the city stack is $238,927,176 while this cycle is $976,756 (0.41%). Use the city hub for Denver, CO without a year filter; use this tie for Denver in 2008. Donor city is not recipient city: committees that received these gifts can file anywhere in the FEC system. Aurora and Denver share a metro but not an FEC city key.

2008 as an FEC cycle tag, not a local election

Federal election cycles are two-year windows on FEC.gov. The 2008 cycle is the Commission's cycle tag on itemized receipts, not a calendar year of January gifts only. Inside that window, Denver, CO donors itemized $976,756 on 889 contribution records. Dividing dollars by rows gives a mean of about $1,099 per itemized gift. That mean is an arithmetic average of rows, not a typical donor and not a median. This page does not publish a median or a unique-donor count.

The national 2008 hub still includes every other city. State pages for CO still include every other cycle. Only this join isolates Denver × 2008. Unitemized contributions below the FEC itemization threshold are omitted. Independent expenditures and committee-to-committee transfers are other tables. 889 itemized contribution records produced $976,756. Mean about $1,099 per row is division, not a median and not a unique-donor average. This URL is the intersection only.

Dollar share is not row share

0.41% of $238,927,176 is a slice of the city book, not a ranking against other cities. Put another way, about 0.41% of Denver, CO's itemized individual dollars in this aggregate were filed in 2008, and about 99.59% were not. Those percentages are $976,756 divided by $238,927,176 and $237,950,420 divided by $238,927,176. They are not shares of state totals, national cycle totals, or eligible voters.

Dollar share (0.41%) and row volume (889 itemized gifts) are separate facts. This packet does not include a citywide row count across all cycles, so a row-share percentage is not computed. Do not treat 0.41% as Denver's share of the 2008 national cycle, which is a different denominator and is not in these facts. Denver County is a geography note for readers; it is not a Census population weight on $976,756.

Itemized rows are not unique donors

889 itemized contributions totaling $976,756 is the operational definition of this page. The FEC file can list the same household on multiple dates, to multiple committees, and under spelling variants of DENVER. Unique-person counts are not in the packet and are not invented here. Neither is a ranking of Denver versus other CO cities: this join has one geography and one cycle.

Mean gift size of about $1,099 uses only the two numbers in the join: $976,756 and 889 rows. It is a trivial ratio, not a finding about wealth, turnout, or ideology. Employer and occupation strings on those receipts are other joins. This page does not break $976,756 out by occupation, industry, or recipient committee. City labels are filer-entered. A donor who typed DENVER is counted; a nearby suburb they typed instead is not recoded into Denver.

Correlation is not causation on this tie

This page does not rank Denver against other cities and does not treat itemized giving as public opinion in CO. Two columns matched. Contributor city is not campaign city. A CO address does not mean the money supported a CO candidate. Amended reports can move either number. If the live Denver, CO hub or the live 2008 cycle hub disagrees with this prose, the newer FEC extract controls.

Unitemized gifts, independent expenditures, and non-individual sources are omitted. See Denver, CO, the 2008 election cycle, Colorado campaign finance, and all FEC ties for the adjacent tables. Dollar figures are FEC itemized individual contribution aggregates. They are not federal spending awards and they do not fund USAspending totals. Source: FEC.gov.

Questions

How much did Denver, CO donors give in the 2008 election cycle?

FEC itemized individual contributions from donors listing Denver, CO total $976,756 in the 2008 cycle, across 889 contribution records. The same city label totals $238,927,176 across all cycles in this aggregate, so 2008 is 0.41% of that city stack. Figures are from FEC.gov city-by-cycle aggregates.

Is the Denver, CO city total only for 2008?

No. The city aggregate of $238,927,176 covers every cycle in the table for DENVER. The 2008 filter is $976,756 from 889 itemized gifts. Other cycles hold $237,950,420. Use the city hub for the all-cycle total and this tie page for the 2008 slice.

Did Denver, CO 2008 donations stay in CO?

Not necessarily. Donor city is Denver, CO; recipients can be committees anywhere that file with the FEC. This join does not allocate the $976,756 by office, state of the committee, or party. A CO city code is an address field on the individual receipt, not a map of CO races.

How many Denver, CO contributions were itemized in 2008?

889 itemized contribution records sum to $976,756. That count is rows, not unique donors. The arithmetic mean is about $1,099 per row. Unitemized gifts below the FEC threshold and independent expenditures are not included. Citywide unique-donor counts are not in these facts.