Ctrywide Gave Obama More $ Than Dodd

This tidbit from Open Secrets seems to have slipped by without much media mention:

Countrywide’s Campaign Contributions Weren’t Loans, But They Were Investments

Published by Irene Kan on June 18, 2008

… Sen. Dodd, who chairs the Senate committee that oversees the mortgage industry, has collected $10,000 from the company this election cycle. He has collected $20,000 from Countrywide’s PAC during his career, putting him just after the Democrat’s presidential nominee-to-be, Sen. Barack Obama, for most contributions to a senator.

Obama joined Dodd in co-sponsoring a housing relief bill that would encourage lenders to refinance and stabilize existing mortgages. Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), the other senator reported to have benefited from a lower mortgage rate from Countrywide, has received $9,000 in campaign contributions from the company during his congressional career…

This seems somewhat difficult to believe, and it is hard to find any additional support for this claim in the FEC records.

But buried on the corrections page of the Hartford (CT) Courant we find:

Correction

June 26, 2008

Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., received $20,000 in campaign contributions from Countrywide Financial Corp. over the past two decades, more than any senator except Barack Obama, D-Ill., who received $22,900 in that period.

A June 19 story on Page A3 incorrectly reported that Dodd had received $25,000 and was the Senate’s top recipient of Countrywide contributions during that time. The incorrect information was published on the website of the Center for Responsive Politics, which gets information from the Federal Election Commission.

Both the center and the FEC corrected their figures on Wednesday. A related story is on Page A3.

Given that we are talking about over the time span of the last ten years, and that Mr. Obama has only been on the national scene since 2004, it is hard to believe that his contributions from Countrywide would be so high.

Mr. Dodd was also a Presidential candidate, as was Mrs. Clinton until very recently. And of course so is Mr. McCain and so was Mr. Kerry.

So why has Countrywide given so much money to Mr. Obama?

Obama joined Dodd in co-sponsoring a housing relief bill that would encourage lenders to refinance and stabilize existing mortgages.

Does it really just come down to this? Or is there more to this story?

(Thanks to NotSoYoungJim for the initial heads up, as well as the additional documentation.)

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