I must step in and point out that in various places, War Room on Salon and perhaps others, an error in reporting needs to be corrected.

Thomas Schaller quotes the first three paragraphs of Jeanne Cummings’ Politico article in the following (emphasis mine):

The 2008 campaign isn’t even over yet, but women have already donated unprecedented sums to this year’s presidential candidates. From Jeanne Cummings of the Politico:

Women aren’t just making history as marquee candidates this presidential cycle. According to a new study, they are also leaving a mark behind-the-scenes in the male-dominated world of political giving.

The study, released Tuesday by the Women’s Campaign Forum Foundation, found that women have given $109 million to presidential candidates in checks of $200 or more — triple the amount female donors delivered in 2000, with still two months to go in the race.

Not surprisingly, Hillary Clinton received a major portion of the cash. Women donated about $60 million to her presidential campaign, about half of the New York senator’s total donations of more than $200 [million].

This final sentence was unclear in the Politico article and Schaller seems to have misinterpreted it the same way others may have. When Cummings wrote “…total donations of more than $200″ she actually meant $200 dollar donations, the minimum donation amount that will have a donor’s name noted, not $200 million total donations. Later in the Politico story the accurate figures are stated:

Clinton’s campaign, for instance, reports that it received an additional $60 million in small donations from women, bringing the total amount of female contributions to her campaign to $120 million, the study found.

In our study, our data regarding women’s donations is based on “gender-coded dollars,” not all dollars, to be sure of the gender of the donor.  Thus the “fuzzy math” that commenters on the Salon article have noted was a reporting error, not a mathematical error.

If there are any other questions you would like to address, please leave us a comment!

- Ilana Goldman, President, WCF Foundation

The 2008 Vote WIth Your Purse report was released today, and it’s already starting to get attention (click here to see only a small part of the media coverage: ABC News, Politico, The Hill, The Wall Street Journal). Click here for your own PDF version, or head directly to the WCF Foundation website to download a copy!

The report, Vote With Your Purse 2.0: Women’s Online Giving, Offline Power, explains the kind of impact women can have on politics through online donations. Women can be a powerful force in the political sphere, and the best way to increase that force is through political giving. Vote With Your Purse explains how women engage politically using the Internet, how they use Web tools like social networking sites and blogs and what inspires them to give.

Some highlights:

By providing information strategically, women online donors can be engaged in not only political giving, but also in involving others:

• Women are actively researching politics and use online sources extensively – 96% read online news sources for political and campaign news and 47% use them as their primary news source.
• Before making a political contribution, 55% consult online news sources, 54% consult campaign email updates and 49% consult campaign, PAC or political party websites.
• Nearly 80% forward political information or stories to friends and family and nearly 90% ask those contacts to become engaged with a campaign in some way including signing a petition (48%) or giving funds (27%).

The report has been released hand-in-hand with our online Resource Center, a new space for women to learn how to fully utilize Web 2.0 tools for increasing their political giving and supporting women who are involved in the political process. Maybe you have never heard of any of these tools before, or maybe you use them every single day — no matter what your level of expertise is, the Resource Center can show you how to use the web to really support the candidates and causes you care about. Women are more engaged on the Internet than ever , and our energy, dedication and capabilities online can only increase.

Check out the report for yourself and leave your comments and feedback here on the blog. We love to hear from you!

Until next time,

- Ilana Goldman, President of WCFF

On the last day I found a place where people were shuffling on and off the shuttle buses. I saw a woman with red hair who was covered with Republican National Committee buttons and pins. I asked her what she thought of Gov. Sarah Palin’s speech. Listen to what she had to say.

Ruth Ulrich is the National Committee Woman-Elect for Louisiana. I sat down with Ruth for a few minutes and asked her to share her experience with the Republican National Committee’s response to Gustav in the Gulf States.

She talks about how families were helped, some members either flown in or out of Minnesota. The Governor changed the theme of one of the events to “Louisiana We Believe,” which included musicians who were also displaced and ended up in Minnesota three years ago because of hurricane Katrina. Listen in.

Before Presidential nominee Senator John McCain comes to the Town Hall-styled stage, the video of his life is displayed on what looks to be a 100 foot screen. The stage is designed to allow the delegates to sit closer to him. The biographical video depicts McCain’s life in the military and public service.

John McCain walks on to the dark stage under a spotlight. He accepts the nomination for president from the Republican Party. He begins by thanking his family, his mother, and President Bush and his wife Laura. McCain addresses the Democratic Presidential Nominee Barack Obama and his supporters, acknowledging their differences but sharing his respect for him as a fellow American.

“There are more things that united us than divide us,” he says.

Gov. Sarah Palin is given a standing ovation after McCain thanks everyone for accepting her. He goes on to talk about her background as a business woman, an executive, a laborer and mother. He warns the Washington D.C. big spending, putting “self-interest first and country second” crowd, that Palin will join him in bringing change to the government.

John McCain shares his experience of being known for going his own way and a maverick. Sometimes he is criticized for it, but he knows who he works for, the American people. He has fought leaders on both sides of the aisle on spending “your” money on things “you neither need or want.” McCain explains how he has already fought for issues in the senate and what he will do as President.

He will veto big spending earmarks as President, especially when Americans are struggling to pay for bills, gas and their mortgage. McCain explains how he fought for the strategies necessary to win the war in Iraq, with advice from leaders like General Patreus. McCain states that those strategies worked, kept the U.S. from a demoralizing defeat, a broader war and risking the security of all Americans.

McCain talks about individual families he has been fighting to support, including Sue and Bob who lost their investments in the housing crisis. Now Sue has to work three jobs to make ends meet. He promises to help families with special needs and families with children fighting in the war. He goes on to talk about how elected officials lost the trust of Americans with corruption, bigger government, and not getting freedom from foreign oil.

“We are going to recover the people’s trust by standing up again to the values Americans admire, recovering the values, the party of Lincoln, Roosevelt, Reagan are going to get back to basics.“

McCain gives a list of issues and compares them to Obama’s priorities. They include health care, lowering taxes, outsourced jobs, educations and retraining Americans for new jobs. McCain shares his plans for changing the economy, creating peaceful relationships with Russia, working on releasing the U.S. from foreign oil. He admits that his goals are ambitious but that Americans are looking for big changes.

McCain closes with the reasons he is running for President and asks those that don’t like what is happening in the government to join the ranks and change it. He is running because his country saved him and he will try to save it.

The crowd begins to cheer as she shouts the rest of his speech about Americans never giving up.

Two women were sitting on the bench when I walked up. I asked them were they McCain supporters. They looked at each other, reluctant to answer. A woman standing near by walked up next to them. It seems the three women are long time friends with differing political points of view.

When I asked them to do the podcast, the two sitting (Renatta and Sandy) said that Jinny should do it. Asking if they would all share their points of view, Sandy tried to convince me that they don’t always agree. I replied, it seems that you are all still good friends and the politics have not gotten between you. Sandy immediately says “I have lost friends over this.” After a little more coaching the three ladies agree. Once they got started Sandy began to feel better about sharing her political views. Here is what the three close friends had to say.

Stephanie was holding t-shirts and giving out buttons near the MSNBC’s People and Politics tent. It was sunny; she was wearing shades and was about six months pregnant. Stephanie came from a mixed ethnic background and is a blogger. The buttons she was giving out said, “Blog for McCain.” In another segment of Women on the Street, here is what Stephanie had to say.

Minnesota State Representative Kathy Tingelstad (R) was attending the Minnesota’s Progressive Republican Tradition event. Many of the Republicans attending this event considered themselves to be GOP progressives. Representative Tinglestad spent a few minutes of her time with me. Here is what she had to say about women involved in politics and what issues are important to women.

After a star studded roundup of speakers, including Michael Steele, Carly Fiorina, Mitt Romney and Rudy Guliani, Governor Sarah Palin takes the stage and accepts the nomination for Vice President of the Republican Party.

She begins by sharing her family with everyone, her son who is going to serve the country in Iraq, her daughters, parents and husband. She talks about herself as an average hockey mom, comparing hockey moms to pitt bulls but with lipstick.

Palin decides to share her experience as a small town Mayor, comparing it to community organizing. She shares what she has done in Alaska as Governor. Fighting with lobbyists, special interests groups, informing Congress that Alaska can build their own bridges and protect their communities.

Palin talks about her executive experience which she draws a strong contrast from the Obama/Biden ticket of the Democratic National Committee. She compares them to Senator John McCain’s experience, showing supporters that she is a maverick and fighter similar to the Presidential Nominee. The cheers, gears, and standing ovations of the audience, erupt in the room.

Palin’s family joins her on the stage and John McCain later appears to the energized crowd. Once the Republican team leaves the stage the roll call votes begin.

Finding republican women that would speak publicly on the issues has been a surprising challenge at the Republican National Convention. Minnesota is known for a moderate to democratic political base. Many of the women I was able to get to agree to do a podcast were not Republicans. Broadening women’s perspective on politics, I ran into Kate near the MSNBC tent. Kate is here for the Ron Paul Convention. Here is what Kate had to say: