Early Donations to Political Campaigns

 It's always interesting to see where the early money goes in the campaign cycle.  Generally speaking, the primary donors are hard core believers, close friends and family with an occasional risk taker willing to put their name out there early. 

It's the early risk taker that is usually the most interesting. 

One early risk taker is Kevin Mattson.  Kevin is the former executive director of the Maine Democratic Party and currently running Harpers Development, which is quietly piecing together a real estate empire here in Maine.  However, Kevin's donations in the 2007-2008 cycle are interesting in that he has given to both Chellie Pingree and Adam Cote. In fact, his name appears on both websites.  The Cote campaign quotes Kevin in their fundraising press release, and the Pingree campaign features Kevin and his wife hosting a holiday party for Ms. Pingree.

Of course, Chellie got two $2300 contributions from Kevin, while Adam managed a measly thousand bucks. Hey, it's his money and it never hurts to cover your bases.

Speaking of covering your bases, Mr. Mattson also donated money to Bill Richardson, Tom Allen and Al Franken -- yes, Al Franken.