DLA Phillips Fox US Partners Barrack For Barack LawFuel - The Law Jobs and Legal NewsWire DLA Phillips Fox’ partner DLA Piper Rudnick is one of the largest campaign contributors to the current presidential campaign, according to figures released by the US Center for Responsive Politics.

Figures compiled by the Center show that DLA Piper sat as the ninth largest contributor, sitting between bankers UBS AG and Credit Suisse, with a 2007 contribution of almost $700,000, most of which was pledged to the Democrat candidates.

Lawyers were the largest contributors for last year, contributing over $46 million, of which 77 per cent was in favour of the Democrat candidates.

Even before a single vote was cast, the candidates running for the White House raised and spent more money in 2007 than in all of seven of the last eight presidential elections, the Center for Responsive Politics has found. And based on their year-end campaign finance filings, the candidates are on pace to break 2004's fundraising records before the major parties officially nominate their candidates for this November's contest.

"We knew from the start that this would be the most expensive presidential election ever, but to see the pre-primary season alone costing more than entire elections is remarkable," said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the nonpartisan watchdog group.

In 2007 the field of presidential candidates for '08 raised $582.5 million and spent $481.2 million. That exceeds the total fundraising and spending in each election from 1976 through 2000—the last time both parties had competitive fields. In 2000, George W. Bush, Al Gore and the other candidates who ran collected $528.9 million and spent $343.1 million, including public financing. In 2004, Bush, John Kerry and the rest of the field raised $880.5 million and spent $717.9 million. In 2008, the Center predicts, the candidates alone will raise more than $1 billion—the first time a U.S. presidential election will cross the billion-dollar mark.

On its award-winning website, OpenSecrets.org, the Center for Responsive Politics has incorporated the year-end presidential campaign finance reports into its exclusive analysis of the top industries and contributors backing each candidate.

The site’s presidential section also includes analyses of the geographic distribution of contributions, the candidates’ fundraising over time and contributions from major sectors and selected industries in the news. CRP has also updated OpenSecrets.org's Money Web, a popular new feature for the '08 election that uses social networking software to illustrate links between the presidential candidates and their top donors.

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