22 February 2007

Notable Political Contributions by Sports Personalities

Basic Overview: right-wingers well represented in every sport except one.

Some interesting stuff here... donations to Jesse Helms, Mark Foley, Rick Santorum, Katharine Harris, Pete Coors... even Dan Quayle for President! Some of them have given a lot (Andre Agassi, Mario Andretti, Lute Olson, Karl Malone, e.g.), some not so much.


FOOTBALL

Troy Aikman –Bush ’04, RNC

Mark Brunell – George Allen, Bush ’04

Chris Collinsworth – Rob Portman, Jim Bunning, KY GOP

Mike Ditka – Bush ’00, Bush ’04, RNC

John Elway – Tom Tancredo, Pete Coors

Lou Holtz – Bush ’00, McCain ’00, Quayle ’00

Bernie Kosar – Mike DeWine ’06, George Voinovich ‘04

Tommy Maddox – Bush ’04, RNC

Peyton Manning – Bush ‘04

Dan Marino – Bush ‘04

Al Michaels (commentator) – Bush ‘04

Bart Starr – RNC, Bush ’04,

Roger Staubach – George Allen, Bush ’04, Jim Bunning, NRSC

Lynn Swan – Pete Coors, Bush ’04, John Kerry for Senate

Jerome Bettis – Bush ’04

Bobby Bowden – RNC, Bush ’00, Bush ‘04


AUTO RACING

Mario Andretti – Rick Santorum, Patrick Toomey, NRSC, NRCC

Darrell Waltrip – RNC, NRSC, Bush ‘04

Greg Biffle – NRSC

Dale Jarrett – RNC, Bush ‘04

Richard Petty – Elizabeth Dole, Jesse Helms


GOLF

Ben Crenshaw – Bush ’00, Bush ’04, John Cornyn

Tom Kite – Bush ‘04

Davis Love III – Bush ‘04

Greg Norman – Bush ’00, Bush ’04, Mark Foley

Arnold Palmer – Jack Murtha, Rick Santorum, Pete Coors, Bush ’04, Bush ’00, Quayle ‘00

Tom Watson – RNC

Paul Azinger ­– Katharine Harris

Ray Floyd – RNC, NRCC, Mark Foley, Quayle ‘00

Peter Jacobsen – Quayle ‘00

Larry Mize – Bush ‘04

Byron Nelson – Texas GOP, RNC, John Cornyn, John Thune,

Jack Nicklaus – George Voinovich, RNC

Mark O’Meara – Bush ’00, Bush ‘04

Lenny Wadkins – Bush ‘00

Fuzzy Zoeller – Lugar for President ‘95


BASKETBALL

Charles Barkley – John Edwards ’04

Clyde Drexler – Bush ‘04

Phil Jackson – Bill Bradley

Michael Jordan – Barack Obama, Bill Bradley

Bobby Knight – Bush ‘04

Karl Malone – Bush ’04, RNC

Alonzo Mourning – DNCC

Lute Olson – Rick Santorum, RNC

Jalen Rose – Edwards ‘04

Isaiah Thomas –Bradley ’00, Gore ’00, Jesse Jackson ‘88

Vlade Divac -- DNC

Dikembe Mutumbo – Barack Obama, Jay Rockefeller


TENNIS

Andre Agassi – Tom Harkin, Joe Lieberman, Maria Cantwell, Harry Reid, Kerry for President, Gore for President

Jim Courier – Kerry for President

John McEnroe – Democracy for America, Kerry ’04, Bradley '00

Martina Navratilova – Emily’s List


BASEBALL

Rafael Palmeiro – Bush ‘04

Alex Rodriguez – Bush ‘04

Nolan Ryan – Bush ’04, RNC

Hank Aaron – Max Cleland

4 comments:

Michelle said...

Once again the tennis player are better than the rest of the athletes.

ohdave said...

WE, I am really interested in this and would like to blog on it at some point.

Did you do this research yourself?

I am wondering how Tillman's teammates contributed.

There's an astonishing lack of Dems on your list.

WestEnder said...

Yes, I did the research myself. I'm planning another similar post this week about a different professional category.

I wasn't too surprised at the lack of Dems... what surprised me most was the extent of support for Bush-Cheney in 2004.

My thinking is that most sports figures voted for Bush because they associated Bush with strength and Kerry with weakness. That's about as far as intellect goes in pro sports... at least in America.

I recall golfer Ben Ogilvy (U.S. Open champ '06) remarking how distressing it is for golf pros to be around the Americans because they're so poorly informed about world affairs yet they go on and on about Bush, the war, etc.

ohdave said...

I think they voted for Bush because they're millionaires!!!

I'm interested in this and would like to blog on it if I weren't so fucking busy. I'll probably have to leave it to you.