First and second place in military donations.

Bennett Roth, Richard S. Dunham and Chase Davis write in great detail how Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, and Democrat Barack Obama have received the most contributions from donors associated with the military. In a way Roth, Dunham and Davis are expressing the cause and effect of this by stating how Paul and Obama have received the money, and the theory behind it. They relate the amount of money each received with current events, such as the Iraq war. It was said that from January through September Paul received $63,440 from numerous retired and current military employees. Obama is second in military donations with $53,968 during those nine months. It’s ironic that Sen. John McCain came in third with $48,208. Yet, he supports and defends President Bush’s decision to increase troops in Iraq. It was an interesting fact considering Obama and Paul are against the war. There was a relation between the amount of money the military employees gave to Paul and Obama, and their dissatisfaction with the Iraq war. The writers include a statement from a contributor on why he decided to donate $100 to Ron Paul. Lindell Anderson, who retired from the Army, states that he believes Paul “speaks a theme that the United States shouldn’t be the policeman of the world”. He strongly disagrees with Republicans who have said that Paul was “anti-military” because of his views on the Iraq War. Ramona Joyce, an official with the American Legion and a supporter of the Iraq war, expressed a different view when she stated how she doesn’t understand why any of the military employees would side with Paul. I find it interesting that Jennifer Duffy, an analyst with Cook Political Report, has the idea that Paul might be seen as the spokesman for military personnel who are against the war, but don’t want to vote for a Democrat. There was also evidence in the article that current military employees from here and overseas are behind Obama because they feel he will make the changes necessary for current issues. All around the article was written with good points on why all three candidates received the amount of money they did and how the contributors feel about these candidates. The only part that puzzled me was the amount of money McCain received and how much support is being given to someone who still supports the Iraq war.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/5223477.html