The industry gave $1.3 million, or about 57% of the total, to Republican candidates and $934,000, or 41% of the total, to Democrats, according to the latest filings tracked by the Center for Responsive Politics. The sector has favored Republicans in every election cycle since 1994.
Senator Blanche Lincoln, an Arkansas Democrat who is facing a tough re-election battle against Representative John Boozman, collected the most pipeline donations, $62,000. She sits on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which was at the center of climate-change debates and the legislative response to the BP oil spill.
Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska was the second-most popular candidate among pipeline donors, collecting $51,400. She is ranking member of the energy committee and is running a write-in campaign after she lost the Republican primary election to Joe Miller.
Invoking her experience with energy issues, Murkowski said this week she would use a third term to keep pushing for the construction of a gas pipeline from the North Slope.
"There are varying opinions about how to get our gas to market, whether a pipeline overland can proceed quickly or whether it's time to turn our attention back toward an all-Alaska pipeline with a LNG focus for sales of gas on the West Coast or to other markets," she said in a statement. "What I
pledge in a new term is to accelerate efforts to get a gas line under way."
Other candidates popular with the pipeline industry are Representative Dan Boren, Democrat-Oklahoma, who collected $37,800; Senator Robert Bennett, Republican-Utah, who collected $30,700 and Representative John Sullivan, Republican-Oklahoma, who collected $25,500. Bennett was defeated in his bid for another term in Republican caucuses earlier this year by Mike Lee.
On the donor side, The Williams Companies pushed the American Gas Association out of the top-spender spot in the pipeline category this election cycle. Owner or part-owner of Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line, Gulfstream Natural Gas System and Northwest Pipeline, Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Williams spent $403,000 as of the latest reports, 72% of it going to Republicans and 26% to Democrats.
AGA spent $320,000 on federal campaigns, sending 55% to Republicans and 42% to Democrats, data collected by the Center for Responsive Politics show.
Rounding out the top five spenders among pipeline companies or organizations were Energy Transfer Partners, which spent $182,000, 82% of it on Republicans; AGL Resources, which spent $158,000, 57% on Democrats; and Enterprise Products Partners, which spent $150,000, 79% of it on Republicans.
Spending by pipeline companies pales in comparison to the campaign cash doled out by electric utilities. They gave $15.7 million to candidates this cycle, including $8.8 million, or 56%, to Democrats and $6.5 million, or 41%, to Republicans. Total spending by the sector is down about $232,000 from the 2006 mid-terms.
Popular politicians with the electric utilities were Representative Rick Boucher, Democrat-Virginia, who collected $356,600; Murkowski, who received $281,200; House Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland, who collected $239,300; Lincoln, who received $220,900 and Senator Richard Burr,
Republican-North Carolina, who collected $208,900.
Top donors were the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, which gave $1.4 million; Exelon, which gave $931,500; Southern Company, which gave $739,000; Dominion Resources, which gave $715,000 and Duke Energy, which gave $674,000.
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