The defense industry, normally a financial mainstay of the Republican Party and its candidates, is hedging its bets in the presidential race, splitting its contributions almost evenly between Republicans and Democrats seeking their party's nomination. (For more, see Huffington Post's Fundrace.)

In the just-filed third quarter reports, employees of the top five defense contractors -- Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop-Grumman, Raytheon and General Dynamics -- reported giving a total of $196,811 to all the candidates, with $104,791 going to Republicans and $91,920 to Democrats.

Insofar as the defense workers are reflecting the interests of their employers, the contributions clearly suggest that the arms industry has calculated Democratic prospects for 2008 are good. In the 2004 presidential race, the defense industry gave George W. Bush $819,358, more than twice the $366,870 received by John Kerry.

Senator John McCain (R-AZ), the highest ranking members of his party on the Senate Armed Services Committee, led the field by a strong margin, collecting a total of $41,802. Lockheed and Northrop employees were his strongest sources of support -- he received just over $16,000 from each.

While a Republican led the field, the next three top spots were held by Democrats. Former North Carolina Senator and 2004 Vice Presidential nominee John Edwards raised $29,755, the biggest chunk of which, $12,385, was from Northrop Grumman. New York Senator Hillary Clinton, at $26,660, edged out Senator Barack Obama (IL), $25,650. Clinton is a relatively junior member of the Armed Services Committee.

Lockheed employers gave Clinton $12,580, more than any other company, and Obama got $9,528 from Northrop workers, his top defense backer.

In a surprising development, Representative Ron Paul (R-Tex.) raised more defense money in the third quarter than any other Republican except McCain. With $22,616, Paul beat former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, $18,707, Colorado Representative Tom Tancredo, $6,022, and former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson, who raised just $4,250 from employees of the top five defense companies.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani raised a relatively paltry $1,750 from these firms, less than such struggling Democrats as Senator Chris Dodd (Conn.), $3,410 and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, $5,345, and barely more than Senator Joe Biden (Del.), $900, and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (Ohio), $210. Former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel raised no money from defense employees.

Comments for this post are now closed