If you look at the companies that major contributors to the presidential candidates are connected with, stock indexes can be created for each candidate. Forbes Magazine came out with a great list of the members of the Forbes 400 that have contributed to presidential campaigns. The following spells out the stocks of each candidate, and who the contributor is. The contributors are either major shareholders or they run or have run these companies.

The above graph shows the Barack Obama Stock Index and the John McCain Stock Index and compares them to the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

What is interesting is that the returns for the two presidential candidates are almost identical, with the McCain Stock Index down 21% and the Obama Stock Index down 22%. But what is most unusual is that the indices for both candidates greatly underperformed the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which was down 14% by comparison. You can draw your own conclusions.

Obama Index

These are the wealthiest contributors, and the companies they own and/or run, that have supported Obama.

Berkshire Hathaway ( BRK-A ) Warren Buffett ~ CEO
BOK Financial Corporation ( BOKF ) George Kaiser ~ chairman
Expedia, Inc. ( EXPE ) Barry Diller ~ chairman
Fortress Investment Group ( FIG ) Michael Novogratz
Franklin Resources ( BEN ) Charles Johnson ~ chairman
General Growth ( GGP ) Matthew Bucksbaum ~ shareholder
Home Depot ( HD ) Arthur Blank ~ founder
IAC/InterActiveCorp ( IACI ) Barry Diller ~ chairman & CEO
Loews Corporation ( L ) Joan Tisch ~ major shareholder
Qualcomm ( QCOM ) Irwin Jacobs ~ founder, chairman
Shutterfly, Inc. ( SFLY ) James Clark ~ shareholder
Stryker Corporation ( SYK ) Pat Stryker ~ major shareholder
Viacom ( VIA ) ( VIAB ) David Geffen ~ Dreamworks principal
Viacom ( VIA ) ( VIAB ) Steven Spielberg ~ Dreamworks principal

McCain Index

These are the wealthiest contributors, and the companies they own and/or run, that have supported McCain.

American International Group ( AIG ) Maurice Greenberg
Berkshire Hathaway ( BRK-A ) Charles Munger
Blackstone Group ( BX ) Hamilton James
Blackstone Group ( BX ) Stephen Schwarzman
Broadcom ( BRCM ) Henry Samueli
Cablevision Systems ( CVC ) Charles Dolan
Charles Schwab Corp. ( SCHW ) Charles Schwab
Clearwire ( CLWR ) Craig McCaw
Coca Cola ( KO ) Herbert Allen
Comcast ( CMCSA ) Amos Hostetter
Ensco International Inc. ( ESV ) Richard Rainwater
Enterprise GP Holdings ( EPE ) Dan Duncan
Estée Lauder Companies ( EL ) Leonard Lauder
Federal Express ( FDX ) Frederick Smith
Fortress Investment Group ( FIG ) Wesley Edens
Huntsman Corporation ( HUN ) Jon Huntsman
IAC/InterActiveCorp ( IACI ) Barry Diller
Liberty Media Capital ( LCAPA ) John Malone
Liberty Media Interactive ( LINTA ) John Malone
Shutterfly ( SFLY ) James Clark

Don’t forget to check out the Sarah Palin Stock Portfolio and the Joe Biden Stock Index.

Assumptions:
This is price-weighted index, similar to the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Dividends were included.

Author owns FDX and KO.

By Fred Fuld Stockerblog.com

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