Baltimore, MD political money — 2008 cycle

The 2008 overlap for Baltimore, MD

$375,594 is the overlap of two FEC dimensions: contributor city BALTIMORE with state MD, and election cycle 2008. The match is $375,594 across 222 itemized contribution rows. The city side of the table, covering every cycle in the aggregate, is $116,865,577. 2008 therefore accounts for 0.32% of Baltimore, MD itemized individual dollars in these facts. The remaining $116,489,983 (99.68%) was itemized in other cycles under the same city label.

This is not a restatement of Baltimore, MD. That hub mixes 2008 with every other even-year window filed under BALTIMORE. It is also not a restatement of the 2008 election cycle hub, which mixes Baltimore, MD with every other donor city in the United States. The 222 rows and $375,594 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. Baltimore, MD here is the string that survived aggregation as BALTIMORE in MD. 2008 is a presidential FEC cycle: a two-year window that includes a presidential general election. That calendar fact does not explain why Baltimore, MD donors itemized $375,594. Source: FEC.gov individual contribution aggregates by donor city and election cycle.

What the Baltimore, MD city book includes

The city aggregate for Baltimore, MD is $116,865,577 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 $375,594 from 2008 and the $116,489,983 from every other cycle in the same city file. State-level MD campaign-finance pages still mix Baltimore with every other city in MD.

The stored city is the independent City of Baltimore, Maryland. Towson, Columbia, and Annapolis are not rolled into BALTIMORE. State MD stays on the citation so Baltimore, MD is not merged with a same-named place in another state. $116,865,577 is the MD key only. For Baltimore, MD, the city stack is $116,865,577 while this cycle is $375,594 (0.32%). Use the city hub for Baltimore, MD without a year filter; use this tie for Baltimore in 2008. Donor city is not recipient city: committees that received these gifts can file anywhere in the FEC system. Baltimore County strings such as Towson are other FEC city 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, Baltimore, MD donors itemized $375,594 on 222 contribution records. Dividing dollars by rows gives a mean of about $1,692 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 MD still include every other cycle. Only this join isolates Baltimore × 2008. Unitemized contributions below the FEC itemization threshold are omitted. Independent expenditures and committee-to-committee transfers are other tables. 222 itemized contribution records produced $375,594. Mean about $1,692 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

0.32% of $116,865,577 is a slice of the city book, not a ranking against other cities. Put another way, about 0.32% of Baltimore, MD's itemized individual dollars in this aggregate were filed in 2008, and about 99.68% were not. Those percentages are $375,594 divided by $116,865,577 and $116,489,983 divided by $116,865,577. They are not shares of state totals, national cycle totals, or eligible voters.

Dollar share (0.32%) and row volume (222 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 0.32% as Baltimore's share of the 2008 national cycle, which is a different denominator and is not in these facts. Baltimore City is a geography note for readers; it is not a Census population weight on $375,594.

Itemized rows are not unique donors

222 itemized contributions totaling $375,594 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 BALTIMORE. Unique-person counts are not in the packet and are not invented here. Neither is a ranking of Baltimore versus other MD cities: this join has one geography and one cycle.

Mean gift size of about $1,692 uses only the two numbers in the join: $375,594 and 222 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 $375,594 out by occupation, industry, or recipient committee. City labels are filer-entered. A donor who typed BALTIMORE is counted; a nearby suburb they typed instead is not recoded into Baltimore.

Correlation is not causation on this tie

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

FEC itemized individual contributions from donors listing Baltimore, MD total $375,594 in the 2008 cycle, across 222 contribution records. The same city label totals $116,865,577 across all cycles in this aggregate, so 2008 is 0.32% of that city stack. Figures are from FEC.gov city-by-cycle aggregates.

Is the Baltimore, MD city total only for 2008?

No. The city aggregate of $116,865,577 covers every cycle in the table for BALTIMORE. The 2008 filter is $375,594 from 222 itemized gifts. Other cycles hold $116,489,983. Use the city hub for the all-cycle total and this tie page for the 2008 slice.

Did Baltimore, MD 2008 donations stay in MD?

Not necessarily. Donor city is Baltimore, MD; recipients can be committees anywhere that file with the FEC. This join does not allocate the $375,594 by office, state of the committee, or party. A MD city code is an address field on the individual receipt, not a map of MD races.

How many Baltimore, MD contributions were itemized in 2008?

222 itemized contribution records sum to $375,594. That count is rows, not unique donors. The arithmetic mean is about $1,692 per row. Unitemized gifts below the FEC threshold and independent expenditures are not included. Citywide unique-donor counts are not in these facts.