A Geospatial Presentation of Campaign Finance Information

The Federal Elections Commission has established a map-based interface with its campaign contributions data.

The 2008 Presidential Campaign Finance Map "summarizes financial information disclosed by each active 2008 Presidential candidate who has reported at least $10,000 in contributions from individuals other than the candidate," according to the FEC web site.

The site uses a simple "CONUS" view of the nation, with Alaska and Hawaii tucked-in where Mexico would be. Amounts of contributions are represented by circles of different relative sizes. Clicking on a state's circle will "zoom" to a state-level view with circles showing contribution amounts by 3-digit ZIP code levels. Clicking on those circles, if you have a candidate selected, brings you to the individual contribution records.

Users can view data for all candidates, candidates by party affiliation, or for individual candidates. the map-based presentation offers a simple, intuitive way to view one aspect of campaign contributions -- where geographically they come from.

The site currently shows about $157 million in contributions through the end of March. The next update will come in July.