EnergyBiz - September/October 2007 - (Page 48) The leading presidential candidates are for the most part using standard political rhetoric when they talk about energy, calling for energy security, energy independence, or self-sufficiency. They are all jumping on the alternative energy bandwagon, bandying about any number of figures for what percentage of the nation’s energy needs should be supplied by alternative sources and when. However, some of the candidates have gone a little further, providing some concrete details of how they view energy and what policies they might espouse if elected. The energy industry, meanwhile, has not emerged as a major factor in financing the presidential campaigns to this point. Legal and financial services have taken the lead so far in contributions. Not surprisingly, Democrats, particularly the two leading candidates, are running ahead in campaign contributions, with Republican Rudy Giuliani heading his party’s field of contenders. In what is certainly the most open and longest primary season in recent times, campaign contributions have become an alternate form of polling, with candidates rushing to get donations in before the end of each quarter. It was a triumph for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) to beat out the Democratic front-runner, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), for contributions in the second quarter. By the same token, Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) failure to meet his target or to keep up with the front-runners not only forced him to cut staff but put his whole campaign in question. While Obama may trumpet the grassroots nature of his campaign and promise a new type of politics in Washington, he has not hesitated to take corporate contributions and in fact is the only leading candidate who numbers an electrical utility — Chicago-based Exelon Corp. — among his top 10 contributors (No. 2 after UBS Americas). The Exelon contributions also make the electrical utility industry rank 15th among Obama’s industrial sector contributors (No. 1 is law firms), according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics from mandatory reporting to the Federal Election Commission. Clinton doesn’t have a big utility contributor. Her top 20 are mostly law firms and financial groups, which are the two leading industry categories for her. Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards has a similar profile, though his biggest single contributor is ActBlue, the progressive Democratic PAC. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who was Energy Secretary in the Clinton administration, has Minneapolis-based Xcel Corp. among his top 20 contributors, though with a fraction of the amount Exelon contributed to Obama. Xcel distributes electricity in New Mexico along with eight other states. The www.energycentral.com E n E rgyB i z 49 http://www.energycentral.com
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