FEC, media can’t handle Obama jackpot
The record-shattering fundraising by Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has reshaped the financing of presidential elections and generated breathless coverage and analysis of the otherwise arcane area of campaign finance.
Yet it’s had another consequence that has gone all but unnoticed. The campaign finance reports filed by Obama and Clinton have grown so massive that they’ve strained the capacity of the Federal Election Commission, good government groups, the media and even software applications to process and make sense of the data.
A milestone of sorts was reached earlier this year, when Obama, the Illinois senator whose revolutionary online fundraising has overwhelmed Clinton, filed an electronic fundraising report so large it could not be processed by popular basic spreadsheet applications like Microsoft Excel 2003 and Lotus 1-2-3.
Those programs can’t download data files with more than 65,536 rows or 256 columns.
WTF? Excel 2003 and Lotus? How retro of them. How about creating a simple database using Access or FileMaker? Here, give me about 5 minutes to whip up something for them…
I was under the thinking that Excel could continue the form into another Form…As a continuous Ledger.
read in enough to FILL 1 form, then do another.
The other thought goes like this..
HOW MUCH??
Thinking that there is 1/3 of the USA as registered Demo and reps.. thats about 50million for each side(16.5%) I start thinking about HOW MUCH is being given to the sides.
i wouldnt consider more then 1/2 ABLE to donate more then $20 each. Which would be in the $100million range. When i see $400million and above, i start looking for those RICH folks that own Corps.
Problem solved if everyone would just stop giving their 2 cents worth…
Be gentle with Jimmy Hill
#18, Gawd. I’m heading back to China in a bit over a week. While I’m there I’ll grab myself a copy!
The point to be taken is that the FEC is a typical government bureaucracy that has proven to be inept at doing its job. Having systems and software spec’d and installed some 5 years ago, they are using what meager tools they have to try to cope with volumes of transactions that are trivial to any community bank and laughable to any credit processor.
This is your government in action. Remember this when you say you want government to solve your problems.
I do know a little about this. I worked in transaction processing for 5 years and as it happens, I programmed the check imaging system used for Bill Clinton’s 1996 reelection.
Wait…they’re using spreadsheets?
They are probably using the same software for “National Security” as well. I weep for our future.
#21
Consider that if 1% give the max 2300, you have 1 billion raised.
Should have used Corel Quattro Pro – has a million lines by 18,276 columns !!! The Spreadsheet format is used mostly to display items in this FEC application …
P.S. WinBloze AB Edition would probably come unglued and dump all your beads on the floor !!! M$ can’t get ANYTHIG RIGHT !!!
#29, Jim,
I’ll argue with you on that point. I use MS keyboard and mouse. I love both and have used them for several years now. Their hardware does stand up. That, however, may be an entire different thread.
Well, Mr Gawd, we should be using TRACKBALLS AND NOT MICE, and have DVORAK KEYBOARDS instead of QWERTY to save ourselves from RSI and Bursitis, but M$ doesn’t really care because they can put out CRAP HARDWARE FROM CHINA AND JUST COLLECT THE PROFITS !!!