Does The Economy Mean Obama's 2012 Presidential Run Will See Less Chicago Contributions

25-Jul-2011 It is customary before a big election like that for the president of the United States that the candidate would work to obtain contributions to fund their campaign. Sometimes these monetary donations can make or break a candidate's campaign. 

The Chicago Tribune reported that President Barack Obama may see fewer fundraising dollars coming from Chicago despite it being his hometown. According to the Tribune Obama's 2008 campaign saw a total of 84 Chicago based bundlers whose donations came to approximately $9.65 million. This year there are only 11 bundlers signed on and to date they have only raised $1.15 million.

There are a lot of factors that could contribute to the decrease in donations. The article in the Chicago Tribune explained that the Supreme Court ruled that politicians can receive unlimited donations for their campaign. This can be disheartening to supporters because they don't want their money to be wasted because the opponent spent an exorbitant amount on negative ads about the candidate they are supporting.

Besides the Supreme Court ruling, things can change for supporters on a personal financial level. Someone who may have felt they had enough extra funds to help Obama in the last election may not feel as comfortable in their current financial setting.

Chicago is still seeing a lot of foreclosures and bankruptcy and unemployment statistics are still high. If someone has recently filed for chapter 13 in Chicago they will have been able to keep all of their assets but may not have the stability they did a few years ago.

Other supporters may have had to use a large sum of cash to save a property from foreclosure in Chicago. The money is now tied into their home. This happened to recording artist Prince recently and he was able to stop foreclosure.

Some Chicago businesses are also struggling. We recently saw the famous Chicago pizza chain Giordano's file for chapter 11 bankruptcy. When business is suffering in Chicago there is less money to be used to support Obama's campaign.

It is also possible that after these years where Obama has lived in the White House that the people of Chicago feel less compelled to support him. When he was living in Chicago and currently working in the city he felt more like a local. All of these factors can contribute to the support of the president's campaign. But it's still very early and he has a lot of time to fundraise the money that he needs.

Chang and Carlin
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