The Center for Responsive Politics is a non-partisan, non-profit research group based in Washington, D.C., that tracks money in politics and its effect on elections and public policy. Its website, opensecrets.org, profiles more than 80 different industries with political contributions for the past 10 years. There are three main options for sorting information.

1.   You can either search industries by a keyword or use a pulldown menu. You can also take a broader view by choosing an economic sector – for instance "Health", which includes HMOs, pharmaceuticals, doctors, nurses, etc. Every industry includes an overview of political donations, the issues behind the money, a list of donors from the industry, and list of politicians receiving contributions.

2.   You can look up individual candidates. The website includes profiles of every congressional and Senate race in the country and the presidential race. The data comes from reports that candidates are required by federal law to provide, disclosing where the campaign cash is coming from, including the occupation and employer of each donor. The geographic data shows where the candidates' money is coming from, by state, city, and zip code. This section includes "Interest Groups" data, a "Top Industries" list, and "Top Contributors" list.

3.   Under the "Get Local" section you can enter a zip code to see where contributions are coming from in your area and which political candidates are receiving them. Some of the more detailed information in this section includes a comparison of giving from your zip code and from the average zip code; a look at how much your zip code has given to each of the presidential candidates; and the same for the closest metro area. It has money profiles for each congressional race, as well as links to the money profiles for sitting members of Congress.