My passion is Jewish writing but I’m also a political junkie. So, when I saw an opportunity to combine the two for a post here, I jumped.
Nick Antosca is tracking political contributions by writers on his blog. It’s a pretty simple operation, thanks to the Huffington Post’s special section on political fundraising. You simple ask for all contributors who list their occupation as novelist and it provides a listing.
I saw on the list a fair number of writers I’ve discussed on my blog, Jewish Literary Review. For example, Pulitzer Prize-winning Jewish novelist Michael Chabon gave $4,600 to the Obama campaign. His wife, writer Ayelet Waldman, gave $4,652 to Obama as well. Nick also listed information on Judy Blume, David Mamet and Jonathan Safran Foer.
Here are more results from Antosca’s digging (along with some help from his readers). Some authors you will know, some you might not. Either way, I think it’s an interesting voyeuristic exercise:
Judy Blume– $2,300 for Obama and $2,300 for Richardson.
Geraldine Brooks– $2,300 for Obama.
Michael Chabon– $4,600 for Obama.
Deepak Chopra– $4,600 for Clinton.
Dennis Cooper (same one?)– $4,600 for Obama and $2,300 for Clinton.
Nelson DeMille–$1,200 for Giuliani.
Jonathan Safran Foer– $1,108 for Obama.
Jonathan Franzen– $500 for Obama.
John Grisham– $4,600 for Clinton and $1,000 for Obama.
Daniel Handler– $2,300 for Obama.
Tabitha King–$2,000 for Chris Dodd.
Dean Koontz– $4,600 to Mitt Romney and $2,300 to Fred Thompson.
Nicole Krauss– $1000 for Obama.
Tim LaHaye– $2,300 for Huckabee.
David Mamet– $4,600 for Chris Dodd.
Terry McMillan– $2,300 for Obama.
David Milch (of Deadwood)– $2,300 for Obama.
Walter Mosley– $4,600 for Clinton.
Gloria Naylor– $2,700 for Obama.
Susan Orlean– $2,300 for Clinton.
Sara Paretsky–$586 to Edwards, $250 to Obama, $250 to Clinton.
Marisha Pessl– $450 for Clinton.
Bradley Pierson–$475 for Ron Paul.
Richard Preston– $2,300 for Obama.
Anne Rice– $4,600 for Clinton.
Marilynne Robinson– $1,000 for Obama.
Jane Smiley– $500 for John Edwards.
Binky Urban (super agent)– $2,000 for Obama.
Ayelet Waldman– $4,652 for Obama.
Jennifer Weiner–$500 for Clinton.
For more information and updates, visit Nick Antosca’s blog.
aaron
2/28/2008
Philip Roth for Obama.
steve
2/28/2008
i could definitely see that, aaron.
Tom Morrissey
2/28/2008
Dostoevsky for Dmitri Medvedev.
Alex
2/28/2008
So, we know that something like 9 in 10 journalists donated to Democrats (which bodes well for “fair” coverage), and we know that most Hollywood types are and have always been in the tank for Democrats/socialists/communists. I’m interested in seeing who the producers (as in, the industrialists, innovators, business leaders, inventors, scientists, economists, etc.), you know, the people who we are all really dependent on for the future of this great country donate to.
I happen to believe most people who operate in the “classical” doctrines as opposed to the “romanticists” would vote more rationally, as their lives are based on facts and truths and not just emotions like swooning journalists and feeling actors happen to live off of. I know that most looters, lazy unionists, entitlement seekers, and generations of lazy intellectuals vote liberally, as in the big government, hand-out promising, even the playing-field type party. Sheesh, I did myself in 2000. Of course, at that time, I believed I was entitled a job when I graduated from college. I’m more interested in knowing whom the people most vital to the future of this country and the world I may add, are donating to. Screw the “people”, tell me about the ones who really make a difference.
ck
2/28/2008
Speaking of entitlement seekers and looters, I wonder who the chairmen of Halliburton and Bechtel are supporting? Hmmm… I wonder.
steve
2/28/2008
alex,
in that case, see the below link to find all the donations from people who listed their occupation as “self-employed poet”:
fundrace.huffi...
Alex
2/28/2008
You’ve got to be kidding. Out of the hundreds of thousands of American companies and entrepreneurs doing great things for this country, Israel, and the world, all you could do is drop the same trite Code Pinkish talking points? I think you forgot Blackwater, Caterpillar, and Boeing. Come on, you could do better than that. I happen to work for a large TNC based out of NJ that has assisted in healing more people worldwide than all of Oprah’s book club writers put together ten times over. I’m more interested in whom the people who built that company vote for than Deepak Chopra. I’m not trying to shoot the messenger either.
ck
2/29/2008
ok then do a search for President
do search for chief operating officer
Both of those categories of productive individuals have donated more to the Democrats than to the Republicans… but in all the US, not a single gunsmith has donated a nickel to the Democrats!
And what the frig ha Oprah got to do with this?
Alex
2/29/2008
I don’t understand, is there something wrong with guns?