(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-03-19 09:20

Some have supported Republican presidential candidates. Herman Cain, president of T.H.E. New Voice Inc. in Stockbridge, Georgia, gave $2,300 to former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee in January. Giving to Arizona Senator John McCain was former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell, the son of former Secretary of State Colin Powell. Michael Powell is senior adviser to Providence-based Providence Equity Partners and member of board of San Jose, California-based Cisco Systems Inc.

Many others haven't made any donations at all.

Some black executives gave to Clinton's and Obama's congressional races, though not their presidential campaigns, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington- based research group.

Michele Hooper, managing partner of the Chicago-based Directors Council, which helps find minorities to serve on corporate boards, gave to Obama's 2004 Senate race. Kenneth Chenault, chief executive officer of New York-based American Express Co., gave $2,000 to Obama's Senate campaign and $4,000 to Clinton's 2006 re-election bid.

Not Giving

Other chief executives, including Samuel Scott III, chairman of Westchester, Illinois-based Corn Products International Inc., and W. Roy Dunbar, president of Herndon, Virginia-based Network Solutions Inc., have stayed on the sidelines.

Chenault and Dunbar declined comment. Scott, along with most other executives, didn't respond to requests for comment.

In response to the lack of black corporate support, Jen Psaki, a campaign spokeswoman, said Obama has "a group of donors'' that "will continue to grow.''

Harvey Gantt, who ran against ran against Jesse Helms for a US Senate seat in North Carolina in a contest that aroused racial animosities, said he planned to give to Obama.

"It's time to pass the torch,'' said Gantt, 65, now on the board of directors of Charlotte, North Carolina-based Nucor Corp.

Younger Donors

Walters said there may be generational differences, with the younger executives more likely to give to Obama.

The more senior corporate leaders "have to look out for the interests of their firms and their associations,'' Walters said.

Obama's business support may be coming from owners of small companies, said Robert Smith, a political science professor at San Francisco State University and author of the Encyclopedia of African American Politics.

"An independent businessman might feel a bit freer to contribute than one connected to a major corporation,'' Smith said. There is now way to estimate such giving as the FEC doesn't disclose the race of donors.

The support of the black corporate elite would be more symbolic than financial for Obama, who has built an unprecedented fundraising machine that has brought in close to $200 million from more than 1 million donors. More than a third of that has been raised in contributions of $200 or less.

Obama "hasn't been doing the traditional dinners and events because he has such a powerful on-line fundraising base,'' said Anthony Corrado, a campaign-finance expert at Colby College in Waterville, Maine.

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