Which party do “fat cats” really favor?

Wall Street, which supposedly owns the GOP, has actually invested more in Democratic candidates. According to data at CRP, 54 percent of Wall Street contributions have gone to Democrats this election, including 57 percent of the industry’s PAC money. These numbers don’t include third-quarter contributions, which likely cut into the Democrats’ lead for the cycle — notwithstanding $2,000 from Bank of America’s CEO to House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass.

You wouldn’t know Wall Street was favoring Democrats from reading the media’s coverage of campaign spending. Either because of laziness or bias, reporters tend to make the facts fit a traditional — and morally satisfying — narrative.

For instance, the Washington Post in February published an article about Wall Street giving to congressional campaigns. This Post piece ran when numbers had just come in for 2009, and Democrats had pocketed 65 percent of Wall Street cash that year, the most one-sided year on record. But in the fourth quarter, Democrats had only barely outraised the GOP from the industry, so the Post ran the headline: “Wall Street shifting political contributions to Republicans.”