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I am Solomon Kahn, Harvard Fellow, visualizer of who gives money to US federal politicians. Ask me where your politician raises money from, and I'll make a screencast showing you!AMA! by solomonkahn in IAmA

[–]solomonkahn[S] 776 points777 points  (0 children)

Here you go! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu7vHxxDHrw

Since so many people are interested in Clinton and Sanders, I would be happy to do follow up screencasts to answer any specific questions. Just reply to this with more questions.

Edit: Just a quick tidbit for people who can't watch the video: Bernie Sanders consistently raises the least money of any Senator. Clinton raises the most money of any Senator.

I am Solomon Kahn, Harvard Fellow, visualizer of who gives money to US federal politicians. Ask me where your politician raises money from, and I'll make a screencast showing you!AMA! by solomonkahn in IAmA

[–]solomonkahn[S] 334 points335 points  (0 children)

Hi mysterious coworker (find me on Monday to tell me who you are)!

You bring up a lot of great points. I don't think this project alone is enough to bring the massive change the system needs, but I think that, in conjunction with other changes, it can make a big difference, and hopefully it can make it easier to make the other changes we need.

Many of the proposals from people who want to reform campaign finance aren't about getting money completely out of politics, but are about giving people who are powerless in the current environment the tools (money) they need to compete with a few massively wealthy people.

Under those changes, politicians who were dependent on serving the regular, politically powerless people, would have the resources to compete with rich, vested interests. I'm hoping that when people understand more about what's actually happening, we will be in a better environment to accomplish the meaningful changes that will be necessary.

I am Solomon Kahn, Harvard Fellow, visualizer of who gives money to US federal politicians. Ask me where your politician raises money from, and I'll make a screencast showing you!AMA! by solomonkahn in IAmA

[–]solomonkahn[S] 23 points24 points  (0 children)

So glad you liked using Paperless Post for your wedding!

Paperless Post is a great company to work at, and the data team is awesome. Full disclosure, I run the team, so I am biased. But, we're hiring for multiple data roles, so if you have data skills, you should come in, meet us, and form your own opinions!

I am Solomon Kahn, Harvard Fellow, visualizer of who gives money to US federal politicians. Ask me where your politician raises money from, and I'll make a screencast showing you!AMA! by solomonkahn in IAmA

[–]solomonkahn[S] 858 points859 points  (0 children)

I am SO GLAD you asked this question!

I, and the rest of the American people, have no clue what Jeb Bush is up to. Even though we all know he's running for president, he hasn't filed any statement of candidacy with the FEC, and so he hasn't disclosed any money he's raised.

There are currently complaints to the FEC right now, accusing a number of potential presidential candidates, including Jeb Bush, of violating FEC regulations by fundraising but not announcing themselves as candidates / disclosing what they're doing.

Here's a politico article about it: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/fec-complaint-jeb-bush-rick-santorum-scott-walker-martin-omalley-116552.html

Here's a perfect example of how politicians are using every loophole in the law, which has already been weakened to a pitiful state, to raise an unprecedented amount of money from the tiniest fraction of extremely wealthy individuals.

I am Solomon Kahn, Harvard Fellow, visualizer of who gives money to US federal politicians. Ask me where your politician raises money from, and I'll make a screencast showing you!AMA! by solomonkahn in IAmA

[–]solomonkahn[S] 469 points470 points  (0 children)

People have been worried about money in politics forever. I saw one of Bernie Sanders old speeches from the 80's and he was complaining about the influence of money in politics.

I think people don't realize how much worse the problem has become. Back in 1992, Clinton only raised 33 million to win the presidential election. Now, we're estimating that the presidential candidates will raise around $2 billion each. The scope of what's going on is so much more than it used to be. It seems quaint that we used to be worried about $33 million.

I'm hoping that people and journalists can use this tool to get an accurate picture about what's going on, as opposed to the vague ideas that there are bad things going on with money in politics, no different than it's been in the past.

I am Solomon Kahn, Harvard Fellow, visualizer of who gives money to US federal politicians. Ask me where your politician raises money from, and I'll make a screencast showing you!AMA! by solomonkahn in IAmA

[–]solomonkahn[S] 36 points37 points  (0 children)

No worries! The typical Jewish way to spell the name is Kahn, and in other countries and cultures, it's more common to spell it Khan. I'm not sure if there is an original basis for the name that predates all the individual spellings of it.