Rebecca Carr has donated $350 to Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign. The decision to give money was an easy one for her: She wants a Democrat in the White House.
And after the 2000 election, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln senior analyst in academic affairs said she realized how important it was to have one person in the White House over another.
"So I think certainly in my case, and more generally," she said, "people are more aware of the importance of the presidential race and thus are more willing to spend money and time to get behind the person they believe in."
Carr is just one of many University of Nebraska employees who donated money to a presidential campaign this year, according to a Daily Nebraskan analysis of Federal Election Commission records through early March. The paper obtained a list of every person employed by the NU system and matched it with FEC data to determine who contributed to a political party.
University of Nebraska employees donated $68,411 to various presidential candidates, which amounts to almost 8 percent of Nebraska's donations.
Overall, the state donated $893,968 to all of the candidates. Democrats received $480,227, Republicans $413,691.
Former Democratic candidate John Edwards received the most money - $23,923 - from NU employees. Obama received $22,206, and Sen. Hillary Clinton got $5,945.
On the Republican side, former contender Mike Huckabee raised $5,400, Ron Paul $2,901 and Mitt Romney $475. Current Republican frontrunner John McCain managed only $451. Rudolph Giuliani and Duncan Hunter followed him.
Edward Becker, a UNL philosophy professor, was the sole donor to McCain from the NU system. Becker said he didn't have much money to give McCain, but he's liked him since the 2000 presidential race.
"I actually started donating when his prospects looked completely hopeless," Becker said. "That's what got me thinking he needs help."
The numbers aren't altogether surprising, said Michael Wagner, a UNL political science professor.
"At elite universities that are major research institutions like UNL, you have faculty that are making a bit more money," he said, "so they can give a bit more."
It also doesn't surprise Wagner that more money went to Democrats because he said professors tend to be more liberal. The Democrats also have a more contested election cycle. The Republicans have their presumed candidate on McCain, he said, whereas Obama and Clinton are still in the running.
Wagner said the timing of the primaries - Democrats in February and Republicans in May - also showed why more money would go to Democrats early.
Nebraska's overall donations are following national trends, said John Hibbing, a UNL political science professor.
He said there are a few factors for Democrats raising more money overall: "There's an unpopular Republican incumbent in the White House and an exciting race on the Democratic side."
If the roles were reversed with a Democrat in the White House, Hibbing said, odds are the Republicans would be raising more money.
According to the analysis, McCain came in third in terms of total state donations to Republicans. Since then, he's surpassed both Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani.
"At this point, Romney's not going to raise another dime," Wagner said. "But I'm sure (people) will give to McCain when the time comes around."
State Sen. Bill Avery of Lincoln said the university system employs highly educated people, and those people tend to pay attention to what is going on politically and become more active. Avery was a UNL political science professor before he was elected to Nebraska's Legislature in 2006.
Avery said when he was running for state office, he targeted his fellow faculty members for fundraising appeals.
"They understand that ... what is done politically can affect their quality of life," he said. "It can affect one's job and interests that matter to educated people."
University workers are paid well, so they have more disposable income to contribute to candidates, Avery said.
University employees across the country have donated large amounts of money, according to political watchdog Web sites including Opensecrets.org. Some schools, such as Yale and Harvard University, donated almost exclusively to Democrats, and in large numbers.
Carr, the university analyst, participated in the Nebraska caucus this year and has participated in primaries before. The decision for her to donate was simple: she has more money to spare than she does time.
"I think it's time we have a Democrat in the White House to kind of undo some of the damage that's been done," she said. "I can either donate money or donate time, and I have more extra money than time these days. So I wrote a check."
andyboyle@dailynebraskan.com
