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…
Fortan V on a VAX could eat that data alive.
I have told people in the past that I lamented when Microsoft increased the cell limit from 16384 to 65536. The reason is that 16384 limit sent a signal to users that what they are trying to do should not be done in a spreadsheet. Since that time I have seen many heinous spreadsheets that had the previous limit still been in place, it would have pushed users out of Excel and into a database. Even Access, as much as a narcotic as it is, would be a far better solution than Excel for managing data.
You bet Thomas. Nothing is better than someone coming to you with a 72 meg spreadsheet saying “The file is corrupted, can you fix it?”.
Why are they using Excel? Because they are accountants. There is nothing wrong with Excel, it’s just not a good database. It’s much better at analyzing numbers I hear.
I wonder if this will spawn a religious debate about Excel vs SS vs “My favourite programming language”?
What I bet is that many of these so called internet donors are people that are being used by other rich donors to funnel money to Obama (maybe by George Soreass). Bill and Hitlery, along with many Demoncrats, are good at doing this. Remember all those Chinese dish washers and line cooks giving the max allowable to Hillary when it was shown to be orchestrated by a big chinese donor who later was caught for fraud.
Obama can’t even unite his own party and has a ton of people who won’t vote for him in the primary but yet he’s getting all these donors. It doesn’t add up and the reason is pretty simple. Fraud, the Democrat way.
i hear mccain is still skeptical on whether visicalc will prove to be useful
#2,
Unlike any of the poeple who actually participate on this blog, I am an actual computer professional, and I have seen far more databases shoehorned onto something like MySQL when they should have been in some spreadsheet application, than vice versa.
When does the escalation of presidential candidacy costs, make it essential for anyone wanting the office to find corporate sponsorship or foreign government patronage? Can that be far away? Just, curious.
Is the story that the FEC is so behind-the-times because they use Excel?
Or is it that Excel is so pathetic it can’t handle more than 65536 rows?
Are they claiming that this is the first time he had more than 65000 donors? I’d say he’s done that before, and so did Dean and maybe Bush, not to mention the party committees.
Or is it that he has more than 65000*256 donors?
Thanks Andy (#5) for the laugh.
They might consider OpenOffice.org Calc 3.0 Beta as it has a 1024 column limit as opposed to the 256 column limit of MS Excel.
#6 – Way to convince everyone you don’t know shit by trying to make yourself out to be an expert.
There are plenty of “professional computer people” around here, moron.
Windows AB! Finally, something reliable!
All kidding aside, apparently the FEC is way behind the times and the Obama team is not.
Let’s remember that Obama has been the using the internet to it’s full potential as a fundraising tool, receiving donations of any size. For example, Raising 23 million dollars 20 dollars at a time gives over 20 million donations.
So, it’s pretty easy to see how Obama’s people could easily exceed excels limit.
All this really speaks to is typical government efficiency.
James Hill: LOL
I consider myself an unprofessional computer guy thingee, and I blow my nose in the general direction of any mamby pamby so-called professional.
Me thinks that GregA (if that really is your name) doesn’t seem to like OS and MySql in particular. And just for the record I have never seen a shoe horn in MySql or another database for that matter.
I meant over 1 million donations. Far more than Excel can handle!
I guess I’m just not enough of a “Computer Professional”.
#11,
Your worship is noted.
Remember when I left because Dvorak reported a failed hard disk, and everyone around here (including you btw) failed to diagnose it?
#13
Oh you would be mistaken. I am partial to Firebird for an OS database. You can’t beat the price. On the other hand, SQL Server is easily the best product out there in terms of total product integration. In this particular application, a developer could pivot the excell table to the server, in a half an hour or so, and while that task was running, finish off front end in Access, and never have to look at it again.
#12
Actually, if you look at Obamas mony raising patterns, it looks more like he is using internet techniques to launder Rezko money.
#15, Ah Yea,
I guess I’m just not enough of a “Computer Professional”.
Well, have you tried that new MS Windows AB? Do be careful. It is Chinese and has lead paint on the beads.
GregA:
Ah I detect a pattern: SqlServer, Access, Firebird (Interbase/Borland), etc. I see where you’re coming from and why you don’t like MySql. History is hard to shake.
I’d agree SqlServer is the best commercial db out of the box and generally easiest to implement. It may be the best enterprise product the MS offers. Oracle and DB2 have priced themselves out of the market but I think databases are becoming commodities and MS will soon be pressed. I find MySql easier in the 0-60 category but they’re pretty close.
I have no idea what you’re talking about with the whole pivot excel table to server and finish it off in Access thing. Ergo, you must a computer professional.
/qb
P.S. Be nice about the Monsieur Dvorak’s dead disk problem. Misleading info led to wrong conclusions and lots of folks knew it was the disk problem.
#6
Frankly, I have seen the opposite. No question that I have seen many heinously designed databases but that is a case of someone misusing the right tool. Using a spreadsheet as a database is a case of fundamentally using the wrong tool.
#10
If you need more than 256 columns, a spreadsheet is the wrong tool. Further, if you need that many columns, then it is likely that your design could use some improvement.
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 $400million and above, i start looking for those RICH folks that own Corps.
Problem solved if everyone would just stop giving their 2 cents worth…
#18, Gawd. I’m heading back to China in a bit over a week. While I’m there I’ll grab myself a copy!
The point to be taken is that the FEC is a typical government bureaucracy that has proven to be inept at doing its job. Having systems and software spec’d and installed some 5 years ago, they are using what meager tools they have to try to cope with volumes of transactions that are trivial to any community bank and laughable to any credit processor.
This is your government in action. Remember this when you say you want government to solve your problems.
I do know a little about this. I worked in transaction processing for 5 years and as it happens, I programmed the check imaging system used for Bill Clinton’s 1996 reelection.
Wait…they’re using spreadsheets?
They are probably using the same software for “National Security” as well. I weep for our future.
#21
Consider that if 1% give the max 2300, you have 1 billion raised.
Should have used Corel Quattro Pro – has a million lines by 18,276 columns !!! The Spreadsheet format is used mostly to display items in this FEC application …
P.S. WinBloze AB Edition would probably come unglued and dump all your beads on the floor !!! M$ 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 !!!