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Checkbook Democrats and Their Copartisans

Campaign Contributors and California Political Leaders, 1964-1976

University of California, Davis

Joel King

University of California, Davis

This study tests the notion that those who contribute substantial sums of money to their party and its candidates are distinctive in ways above and beyond the extent of their largess when compared to other party leaders and that they have had declining importance in their party's elite over the past two decades. The data analyzed derive from questionnaires submitted to California Democratic party leaders at four year intervals beginning in 1964. They demonstrate that regulatory changes in the 1970s have substantially achieved the goal of removing big contributors from places of political prominence. Further, they demonstrate support for certain popular images of big contributors, that is, the "socioeconomic elite" image, the "self-serving" image, and the "ideological conservative" image. A fourth image-the "sporadic interventionist" image-is not supported by the present data.

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