Candidates Push Small-Biz Agendas on Big-Biz Bucks

CHICAGO -- Corporate campaign contributions: vital component of free speech, or corruption of the political process?

How you answer that question might shed light on whether you vote blue or red come Election Day. With political convention season in full swing, both sides are spotlighting their differences, with each claiming to speak for "real" Americans while promising to miraculously jump-start our shaky economy.

The political operatives want to create a stark choice between the two candidates. But there's one thing John McCain and Barack Obama have in common: both want to sell themselves as a friend to small business.

It's almost enough to make you feel sorry for Wall Street fat cats. The leading financial companies have been shelling out big bucks to both candidates. But do you hear McCain or Obama singing the praises of Lehman Brothers (LEH)?

The Center for Responsive Politics tracked which companies had the largest total donations to both campaigns, adding up individual donations from employees and their immediate families. Goldman Sachs (GS), JP Morgan Chase (JPM) and Citigroup (C) were among the top five corporate donors to both candidates, although the total amount given was higher for Obama than McCain. Merrill Lynch (MER) and Morgan Stanley (MS) also made McCain's top-five list.

While employees as a whole may favor Obama, the Arizona senator remains the executive suite's top pick. According to the Congressional newspaper The Hill, CEOs of the biggest Fortune 500 companies have given McCain 10 times more money than they have Obama. McCain's biggest fundraisers? John Thain of Merrill Lynch, John Hess of Hess Corporation (HES) and Ivan Seidenberg of Verizon Communications (VZ).