3rd quarter

Sen. Hillary Clinton received the most in contributions from rural America in the third quarter of this year, according to the Daily Yonder’s analysis of campaign records.

The New York Democrat received $1,165,000 in campaign contributions in the quarter, which included July, August and September. She raised more than her chief rival, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, who collected just under $1 million. Obama led all fundraisers in rural communities in the second quarter.

Former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson, a Republican, placed a close second to Clinton in rural fundraising during the quarter. Thompson, who has had a lackluster campaign until recently, had $1,040,000 in donations from people living in rural counties.

The rural contributions don’t reflect the quite sudden rise of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who is now near the lead in most Republican polls. Huckabee had the least in contributions from rural America among the major candidates. Huckabee, however, received his contributions from rural communities that hardly qualify as resort areas, places such as Texarkana, Arkansas; Boston, Texas and Forsyth, Missouri.

The top fifty rural counties in total contributions can be found here.

Contributions from rural residents were higher in the third quarter than in previous reporting periods. Rural residents in the third quarter contributed a total of $6.95 million. In the first quarter, rural donations tallied $6.05 million; in the second quarter, rural contributions totaled $5.7 million.

Although total donations from rural counties were higher in the latest reporting period, rural America still gave proportionately less to presidential candidates than metro regions. Rural America is home to about 25 percent of the nation’s population, but only donated nine percent of all the money contributed to candidates in the third quarter.

As in previous reporting periods, the counties and towns that gave the most money to candidates were largely resort areas: Aspen, Colorado; Jackson Hole, Wyoming; Charlottesville, Virginia. (Pitkin County, Colorado, home to the ski slopes of Aspen, was among the top five counties in contributions for Republican Rudy Giuliani, Democrat Hillary Clinton and Democrat John Edwards.)

Below are the candidate’s top five counties in contributions:

CandidateCountyCounty SeatStateTotal Contributed
Hillary Clinton (Dem)
Albemarle CountyCharlottesvilleVA$71,480
Dukes CountyEdgartownMA$59,160
Avery CountyNewlandNC$43,300
Pitkin CountyAspenCO$41,400
Steuben CountyBathNY$29,350
Fred Thompson (Rep)
Marion CountyJasperTN$45,550
Bolivar CountyRosedale & ClevelandMS$41,850
Dickson CountyCharlotteTN$28,750
Campbell CountyJacksboroTN$25,350
Blount CountyMaryvilleTN$25,250
Barack Obama (Dem)
Summit CountyCoalvilleUT$87,277
Windsor CountyWoodstockVT$61,958
Nantucket CountyNantucketMA$54,700
Dukes CountyEdgartownMA$52,500
Merrimack CountyConcordNH$43,900
Rudy Giuliani (Rep)
Pitkin CountyAspenCO$45,500
Pontotoc CountyAdaOK$42,800
Florence CountyFlorenceSC$42,450
Blaine CountyHaileyID$41,450
Montgomery CountyConroeTX$27,200
Mitt Romney (Rep)
Sumter CountyBushnellFL$91,500
Teton CountyJacksonWY$76,550
Summit CountyCoalvilleUT$33,450
Montgomery CountyConroeTX$25,700
Iron CountyParowanUT$20,244
Bill Richardson (Dem)
Lea CountyLovingtonNM$97,200
Chaves CountyRoswellNM$44,350
San Juan CountyAztecNM$27,200
Teton CountyJacksonWY$23,050
Grant CountySilver CityNM$20,300
Ron Paul (Rep)
Charles CountyLa PlataMD$9,450
Hardin CountyKountzeTX$9,200
Bartow CountyCartersvilleGA$7,800
Montgomery CountyConroeTX$7,485
Jefferson CountyBrookvillePA$7,400
John McCain (Rep)
Blaine CountyHaileyID$47,800
Coconino CountyFlagstaffAZ$11,305
Union CountyMonroeNC$9,700
Camp CountyPittsburgTX$9,200
Talbot CountyEastonMD$8,900
John Edwards (Dem)
Pitkin CountyAspenCO$13,250
LaPorte CountyLa PorteIN$12,000
Anderson CountyAndersonSC$10,050
Chatham CountyPittsboroNC$9,400
Fillmore CountyPrestonMN$9,200
Mike Huckabee (Rep)
Miller CountyTexarkanaAR$30,950
Bowie CountyBostonTX$26,600
Coweta CountyNewnanGA$9,700
Parker CountyWeatherfordTX$5,000
Taney CountyForsythMO$5,000

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