chong

Mitchell,
In either case, McCain or Obama, the report from your referenced source, they are from private donations from people associated with the industries, not the companies. In other words, what the report is saying is that neither candidate received funds from the companies directly. After your comment, I was curious as to how the oil companies can directly contribute to any candidate in violation of a 1907 law specifically prohibiting direct contributions to presidential candidates. I remember working for a company that circumvented this by increasing our bonuses by $2000 so that we can contribute it to the candidate of the owner of the company. That owner spent 2 years plus in the "country club" after conviction on elections related charges.

Anyway, as it turns out, the source you quoted explained that the two candidates received their contributions from oil employees, their families and friends, through the Political Action Committees, whose operating costs were borne by the oil companies(as allowed by law).