Chicago, IL political money — 2008 cycle

The 2008 overlap for Chicago, IL

$2,223,259 is the overlap of two FEC dimensions: contributor city CHICAGO with state IL, and election cycle 2008. The match is $2,223,259 across 1,763 itemized contribution rows. The city side of the table, covering every cycle in the aggregate, is $1,009,249,407. 2008 therefore accounts for 0.22% of Chicago, IL itemized individual dollars in these facts. The remaining $1,007,026,148 (99.78%) was itemized in other cycles under the same city label.

This is not a restatement of Chicago, IL. That hub mixes 2008 with every other even-year window filed under CHICAGO. It is also not a restatement of the 2008 election cycle hub, which mixes Chicago, IL with every other donor city in the United States. The 1,763 rows and $2,223,259 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. Chicago, IL here is the string that survived aggregation as CHICAGO in IL. 2008 is a presidential FEC cycle: a two-year window that includes a presidential general election. That calendar fact does not explain why Chicago, IL donors itemized $2,223,259. Source: FEC.gov individual contribution aggregates by donor city and election cycle.

What the Chicago, IL city book includes

The city aggregate for Chicago, IL is $1,009,249,407 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 $2,223,259 from 2008 and the $1,007,026,148 from every other cycle in the same city file. State-level IL campaign-finance pages still mix Chicago with every other city in IL.

The stored city is the City of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois. Evanston, Oak Park, and Naperville are not rolled into CHICAGO. State IL stays on the citation so Chicago, IL is not merged with a same-named place in another state. $1,009,249,407 is the IL key only. For Chicago, IL, the city stack is $1,009,249,407 while this cycle is $2,223,259 (0.22%). Use the city hub for Chicago, IL without a year filter; use this tie for Chicago in 2008. Donor city is not recipient city: committees that received these gifts can file anywhere in the FEC system. Hyde Park or Loop as typed neighborhoods are not recoded into CHICAGO unless the city field stored CHICAGO.

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, Chicago, IL donors itemized $2,223,259 on 1,763 contribution records. Dividing dollars by rows gives a mean of about $1,261 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 IL still include every other cycle. Only this join isolates Chicago × 2008. Unitemized contributions below the FEC itemization threshold are omitted. Independent expenditures and committee-to-committee transfers are other tables. 1,763 itemized rows is a relatively large file for this city string. A large row count still is not a unique-donor census. Repeat gifts and spelling variants add lines. The mean near $1,261 is $2,223,259 divided by 1,763. This URL is the intersection only.

Dollar share is not row share

0.22% of $1,009,249,407 is a slice of the city book, not a ranking against other cities. Put another way, about 0.22% of Chicago, IL's itemized individual dollars in this aggregate were filed in 2008, and about 99.78% were not. Those percentages are $2,223,259 divided by $1,009,249,407 and $1,007,026,148 divided by $1,009,249,407. They are not shares of state totals, national cycle totals, or eligible voters.

Dollar share (0.22%) and row volume (1,763 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 0.22% as Chicago's share of the 2008 national cycle, which is a different denominator and is not in these facts. Cook County is a geography note for readers; it is not a Census population weight on $2,223,259.

Itemized rows are not unique donors

1,763 itemized contributions totaling $2,223,259 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 CHICAGO. Unique-person counts are not in the packet and are not invented here. Neither is a ranking of Chicago versus other IL cities: this join has one geography and one cycle.

Mean gift size of about $1,261 uses only the two numbers in the join: $2,223,259 and 1,763 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 $2,223,259 out by occupation, industry, or recipient committee. City labels are filer-entered. A donor who typed CHICAGO is counted; a nearby suburb they typed instead is not recoded into Chicago.

Correlation is not causation on this tie

This page does not rank Chicago against other cities and does not treat itemized giving as public opinion in IL. Two columns matched. Contributor city is not campaign city. An IL address does not mean the money supported an IL candidate. Amended reports can move either number. If the live Chicago, IL 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 Chicago, IL, the 2008 election cycle, Illinois 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 Chicago, IL donors give in the 2008 election cycle?

FEC itemized individual contributions from donors listing Chicago, IL total $2,223,259 in the 2008 cycle, across 1,763 contribution records. The same city label totals $1,009,249,407 across all cycles in this aggregate, so 2008 is 0.22% of that city stack. Figures are from FEC.gov city-by-cycle aggregates.

Is the Chicago, IL city total only for 2008?

No. The city aggregate of $1,009,249,407 covers every cycle in the table for CHICAGO. The 2008 filter is $2,223,259 from 1,763 itemized gifts. Other cycles hold $1,007,026,148. Use the city hub for the all-cycle total and this tie page for the 2008 slice.

Did Chicago, IL 2008 donations stay in IL?

Not necessarily. Donor city is Chicago, IL; recipients can be committees anywhere that file with the FEC. This join does not allocate the $2,223,259 by office, state of the committee, or party. An IL city code is an address field on the individual receipt, not a map of IL races.

How many Chicago, IL contributions were itemized in 2008?

1,763 itemized contribution records sum to $2,223,259. That count is rows, not unique donors. The arithmetic mean is about $1,261 per row. Unitemized gifts below the FEC threshold and independent expenditures are not included. Citywide unique-donor counts are not in these facts.