Keepin' it all in the family

I'm going to stray away from the usual sports-related blog this week and look at campaign contributions. With the Democratic race coming down to the wire, why not take a look at the contributions they received from people like us. Well not me, actually, because I'm absolutely broke.

I researched campaign contributions of people in Thousand Oaks, zip code 91360.

My results were surprising...
According to CQ Moneyline...
1. Michael Roberts - $13,800 (to Obama and Kerry)
2. Karen Roberts - $13,800 (to Obama and Kerry)
3. Ronald Iden - $6,500 (to Chris Dodd and Disney..?)
4. Jordan Roberts - $4,600 (to Obama)
5. Susan Chiu - $4,600 (to Clinton)
6. Darrell Arendts - $4,500 (to Romney)
7. Jeff Sycamore - $2,340 (to Romney)
8. Keith Sinclair - $2,300 (to Obama)
9. George Maggay - $2,300 (to Chris Dodd)
10. Karen Sycamore - $2,230 (to Obama)

Ok...5 of the top 10 contributors have a relation to another person on the list. And according to The Huffington Post, $75,561 was contributed from the ZIP code 91360. That's a lot of dough.

Anyways, back to the list. Michael, Jordan, and Karen all share the last name, Roberts, and they all contributed to Obama. Gee I wonder if they are related? Turns out they all have the same address. Michael and Karen are obviously married, seeing as Michael a New York Life Agent and Karen is a Blue Cross Manager. Jordan is a student, so I am guessing he is their son.

This whole time, I am looking at this name 'Jordan Roberts,' and I know I know this person. I think hard about it for a few minutes, and I remember that I do in fact know of him. He played soccer at Thousand Oaks High School, and was 2 or 3 years ahead of me. I remember being on the frosh-soph team freshman year and seeing him and his teammates making it to the CIF semi-finals before losing to Temecula. I remember all this, because 3 years later, I was making the same playoff run and our coach talking about the team he had 3 years ago.

Anyways, the Roberts family donated a grand total of $18,400 to the John Kerry for Senate campaign and $13,800 to the Obama campaign.

I can understand the contributions to Obama. But why donate nearly 20 grand to the Kerry campaign? He's running for re-election for senator in Massachusetts!! That means John Kerry will have absolutely no impact on California residents.

My only guess for why they donated so much money for Kerry was that they want him in the Senate for another term, in hopes that he may run for president again. Again, this is only a guess, but I really don't see any reason why they would want to keep Kerry in Massachusetts office.

The other couple on the top 10 list is Jeff and Karen Sycamore, and it turns out, I know their son. Not only do I know their son, but I know where they live and I know that Jeff is a doctor. Turns out I was right, he's an anesthesiologist. I also know their religious faith, as two of my best friends go to church with their son, and right away I know exactly who they contributed to - Mitt Romney.

This brings up an interesting question.

If you take out all the issues and you only know the candidate's gender, race, and religion.....which one do you identify with most?

Do you vote for the woman because you're female?
Do you vote for the Asian-American because you're an Asian-American?
Do you vote for the Catholic because you're Catholic?

Are you a woman before you are black? Are you Mormon before you are white?

It's just something to think about. That's the reason Oprah is taking big hits right now from women that have watched her show for so long. Over the last 20 years, Oprah has become the most powerful woman in America. Women of all races and religions watch her show.

So when it came down to her supporting a candidate, everyone thought she would support Hillary. They were wrong. She supported Obama.

To Oprah, apparently race took precedence over gender. Oprah lost the respect of a lot of women.

Just ask my mom.