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Center Unveils Buying of the President 2008 Website

WASHINGTON, D.C. January 9, 2008 — The Center for Public Integrity has assembled an award-winning team of journalists and researchers to build one of the most comprehensive, illuminating, and frequently updated websites on presidential politics and fundraising, The Buying of the President 2008. The site provides current and historical facts and figures, along with stories that explore a variety of issues related to money in presidential politics.

“The Buying of the President 2008 site is a quintessential must-read for journalists, policy makers, and political enthusiasts alike who want to broaden their curiosity and pursuit of the purse strings behind presidential campaigns,” said Center Executive Director Bill Buzenberg.

The site, www.buyingofthepresident.org, is a one-stop source of information about the 2008 election, featuring profiles of the candidates, their donors, and advisers, as well as the latest fundraising news. In addition, the site offers a history of U.S. presidential fundraising, complete with more than 75 in-depth interviews of current and former presidential candidates, political strategists, campaign donors, major fundraisers, and other experts. Longtime Washington journalist Sara Fritz, nationally syndicated columnist Jules Witcover, former White House correspondent John W. Mashek, and others conducted the interviews.

Other site features include:

  • An anecdotal history of money in presidential politics, titled “The Hanna Project,” which spans the McKinley-Bryan race of 1896 through the campaigns of George W. Bush.
  • “The Spoils“ that come with winning the presidency, including the ability to hand out everything from cushy ambassadorial posts to rides on Air Force One.
  • Interviews with more than 25 former presidential candidates and more than 50 strategists, consultants, fundraisers, major donors, and other experts, including Bob Dole, Mary Matalin, John Kerry, Richard Lugar, Michael Dukakis, Walter Mondale, George McGovern, Ted Kennedy, Geraldine Ferraro, and Carol Moseley Braun.
  • “The Auction Blog,” the latest on how money is shaping the 2008 presidential campaign.
  • “The Archives“ contains The Buying of the President books from 1996, 2000, and 2004, as well as groundbreaking related reports dating to 1991.
  • “Disclosure Scorecards“ that reveal whether the candidates make public their daily campaign schedules, fundraising activities, and other personal financial information.

The Center for Public Integrity’s Buying of the President series made its debut in 1996.

The Buying of the President 2008 site was made possible with support from the Arca Foundation and the Education Foundation of America.

The Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit, nonpartisan independent Washington, D.C.-based organization that does investigative reporting and research on significant public issues. Since 1990, the Center has released more than 400 investigative reports and 17 books. It has received the prestigious George Polk Award and more than 22 other national journalism awards and 16 finalist nominations from national organizations, including PEN USA and Investigative Reporters and Editors. In April 2006, the Society of Professional Journalists recognized the Center with a national award for excellence in online public service journalism for the fifth consecutive year. In October 2006, the Center was honored with the Online News Association’s coveted General Excellence Award. In March 2007, the Center was given a special citation for the body of its investigative work from the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

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