Cambridge, MA political money — 2008 cycle

The 2008 overlap for Cambridge, MA

$432,551 is the overlap of two FEC dimensions: contributor city CAMBRIDGE with state MA, and election cycle 2008. The match is $432,551 across 306 itemized contribution rows. The city side of the table, covering every cycle in the aggregate, is $147,227,540. 2008 therefore accounts for 0.29% of Cambridge, MA itemized individual dollars in these facts. The remaining $146,794,989 (99.71%) was itemized in other cycles under the same city label.

This is not a restatement of Cambridge, MA. That hub mixes 2008 with every other even-year window filed under CAMBRIDGE. It is also not a restatement of the 2008 election cycle hub, which mixes Cambridge, MA with every other donor city in the United States. The 306 rows and $432,551 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. Cambridge, MA here is the string that survived aggregation as CAMBRIDGE in MA. 2008 is a presidential FEC cycle: a two-year window that includes a presidential general election. That calendar fact does not explain why Cambridge, MA donors itemized $432,551. Source: FEC.gov individual contribution aggregates by donor city and election cycle.

What the Cambridge, MA city book includes

The city aggregate for Cambridge, MA is $147,227,540 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 $432,551 from 2008 and the $146,794,989 from every other cycle in the same city file. State-level MA campaign-finance pages still mix Cambridge with every other city in MA.

The stored city is the City of Cambridge in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. Boston, Somerville, and Brookline are not rolled into CAMBRIDGE. State MA stays on the citation so Cambridge, MA is not merged with a same-named place in another state. $147,227,540 is the MA key only. For Cambridge, MA, the city stack is $147,227,540 while this cycle is $432,551 (0.29%). Use the city hub for Cambridge, MA without a year filter; use this tie for Cambridge in 2008. Donor city is not recipient city: committees that received these gifts can file anywhere in the FEC system. CAMBRIDGE in MA is not merged with Cambridge, MD or other same-named keys.

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, Cambridge, MA donors itemized $432,551 on 306 contribution records. Dividing dollars by rows gives a mean of about $1,414 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 MA still include every other cycle. Only this join isolates Cambridge × 2008. Unitemized contributions below the FEC itemization threshold are omitted. Independent expenditures and committee-to-committee transfers are other tables. A suburb-scale row file (306 receipts) with mean near $1,414 is still itemized Schedule A, not a property-tax roll. $432,551 is the overlap only. Nearby city strings are other pages. This URL is the intersection only.

Dollar share is not row share

0.29% of $147,227,540 is a slice of the city book, not a ranking against other cities. Put another way, about 0.29% of Cambridge, MA's itemized individual dollars in this aggregate were filed in 2008, and about 99.71% were not. Those percentages are $432,551 divided by $147,227,540 and $146,794,989 divided by $147,227,540. They are not shares of state totals, national cycle totals, or eligible voters.

Dollar share (0.29%) and row volume (306 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 0.29% as Cambridge's share of the 2008 national cycle, which is a different denominator and is not in these facts. Middlesex County is a geography note for readers; it is not a Census population weight on $432,551.

Itemized rows are not unique donors

306 itemized contributions totaling $432,551 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 CAMBRIDGE. Unique-person counts are not in the packet and are not invented here. Neither is a ranking of Cambridge versus other MA cities: this join has one geography and one cycle.

Mean gift size of about $1,414 uses only the two numbers in the join: $432,551 and 306 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 $432,551 out by occupation, industry, or recipient committee. City labels are filer-entered. A donor who typed CAMBRIDGE is counted; a nearby suburb they typed instead is not recoded into Cambridge.

Correlation is not causation on this tie

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

FEC itemized individual contributions from donors listing Cambridge, MA total $432,551 in the 2008 cycle, across 306 contribution records. The same city label totals $147,227,540 across all cycles in this aggregate, so 2008 is 0.29% of that city stack. Figures are from FEC.gov city-by-cycle aggregates.

Is the Cambridge, MA city total only for 2008?

No. The city aggregate of $147,227,540 covers every cycle in the table for CAMBRIDGE. The 2008 filter is $432,551 from 306 itemized gifts. Other cycles hold $146,794,989. Use the city hub for the all-cycle total and this tie page for the 2008 slice.

Did Cambridge, MA 2008 donations stay in MA?

Not necessarily. Donor city is Cambridge, MA; recipients can be committees anywhere that file with the FEC. This join does not allocate the $432,551 by office, state of the committee, or party. A MA city code is an address field on the individual receipt, not a map of MA races.

How many Cambridge, MA contributions were itemized in 2008?

306 itemized contribution records sum to $432,551. That count is rows, not unique donors. The arithmetic mean is about $1,414 per row. Unitemized gifts below the FEC threshold and independent expenditures are not included. Citywide unique-donor counts are not in these facts.