Aug 03, 2007  LISA KEEN | COMMENTS     

Although recently available data show that, nationally, gay voters seem to be overwhelmingly supporting Democrats in the 2008 presidential campaign, with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton holding onto a clear lead, there are pockets of exceptions and Washington, D.C.’s gayest zip code — 20009 — is one of them. Here, Clinton is in a dead heat with Sen. Barack Obama for contributions.

That’s what data from the first two quarterly fundraising reports suggest. The Federal Elections Commission made the July quarterly report available online July 15. That data, added to the April quarterly, provide an indirect measure of support inside zip code areas with well-known, heavily gay neighborhoods, such as 90069 in West Hollywood and 02657 in Provincetown.

Nationally, looking at contributions to the top three polling Democratic candidates for president, the data from the first two quarterly reports of the 2008 campaign season show that Clinton is leading in heavily gay areas with 49 percent of the contributions, Obama is in second with 38 percent and former Sen. John Edwards trails with 13 percent. Looking at all six candidates — the top three Democrats and top three Republicans — she’s leading with 37 percent of the contributions.

But in 20009, Washington’s Dupont Circle area, Clinton has taken 47 percent of contributions to Obama’s 46 percent; Edwards trails with 7 percent. The difference can’t be written off entirely to the fact that the majority of D.C.’s population is black because the majority of the zip code area’s population is, in fact, white.

The lower east Dupont Circle and downtown zip code of 20005 shows a dramatically different picture: 65 percent of all contributions to the top three polling Democrats went to Clinton, 33 percent to Obama and 3 percent to Edwards.

When looking at the top six candidates — three Democrats and three Republicans — Clinton and Obama are still neck-in-neck with 40 percent each in 20009, while Edwards and the three Republicans get between 3 and 6 percent each. In 20005, Clinton gets 49 percent of money to the top six, followed by Obama with 25 percent, and Sen. John McCain 15 percent. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney follows with 6 percent, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani with 3 percent and Edwards with 2 percent. Historic voting data for the District of Columbia, including the 20009 and 20005 zip code areas, have shown residents in these areas vote overwhelmingly Democratic.

Clinton’s portion nationally in heavily gay zip codes is down slightly —from 51 percent in April to 49 percent now, as is Obama’s — from 39 in April to 38 now. Edwards’ number is up slightly, from 10 percent in April to 13 percent now. Obama’s percentage (39) has not changed.

Edwards supporter and long-time Democratic gay activist David Mixner attributes the increase in Edwards’ portion to the campaign’s outreach to the gay community, saying it “has been incredible.”

“Elizabeth Edwards is becoming one of our great supporters and that is exciting to see it unfold,” said Mixner.

Both Edwards and Clinton have made highly visible and concerted efforts to court the gay vote.

Given how the Republican candidates’ positions on gay-related issues compare to those of the Democratic candidates, there is little surprise in finding that the top three polling Republican-announced candidates took in only 24 percent of the contributions nationally in the gayest zip codes, while taking in 41 percent of money contributed in all zip codes nationally. By comparison, the Democrats took 76 percent of the contributions in heavily gay zip code areas, but only 59 percent in all zip codes nationally.

Still, there is no evidence that the “gay dollars” are weighing especially heavy in any candidate’s coffers or that gay contributors have maxed out. Clinton has raised a total of $52 million from individuals, thus far; the $2.2 million she’s raised in the 33 gayest zip code areas amounts to about 4 percent. Obama has raised $58 million; so the $1.7 million from the gayest zip codes amounts to about 3 percent of his total. Contributions from the gayest zip codes amounted to about 3 percent of Edwards’ overall $22 million raised.

In gay zip code areas, Giuliani raised the most ($767,676) among the top three polling Republicans, and he even raised more than Edwards ($609,520).

But Giuliani’s percentage of dollars dropped dramatically between the April and July quarterly reports. He took in 61 percent of the contributions to the top three polling Republicans in April, but only 52 percent in July. Romney dropped, too — from 26 percent ...