You think Iowa voters are having trouble making up their minds in the presidential campaign? The political donors of Polk County are the same way. So far this year, 49 percent of the money has gone to Democrats and 51 percent to Republicans. You might say we’re writing checks left and right.

According to the opensecrets.com Web site, President George W. Bush has received nearly $200,000 in donations in Greater Des Moines, compared with Sen. John Kerry’s $135,000. Bush is generally winning the cash war in the state’s metro areas. In Cedar Rapids, Bush’s lead is about $76,000 to $38,000, and he’s well ahead in the Quad Cities, too. Of course, Iowa City lives up to its liberal reputation by giving Kerry a huge advantage, $72,000 to $28,000.

Central Iowa counties are split. Dallas and Jasper strongly favor the Republicans in their giving, with booming Dallas giving a lot more than struggling (home to Maytag Corp.) Jasper. However, Story and Warren clearly favor the Democrats when writing checks – even though Warren voted for Bush in 2000.

Who’s doling out all this cash? A categorical breakdown for 2003 and 2004 shows that by far the leading “industry” is Iowa’s retired people, who have contributed $847,000 to political campaigns. Next on the list come lawyers and law firms, who have given $469,000. After the broad “miscellaneous business” category we come to insurance, real estate and health professionals.

Iowa’s single top contributor in 2003-2004 has been Principal Financial Group Inc., which has given more than $123,000 to unspecified recipients. Omaha financial wizard Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which owns MidAmerican Energy Co. and Iowa Realty, has given $94,500 and Musco Lighting of Oskaloosa is in for $94,000. The top 20 also includes the National Pork Producers Council, the state of Iowa, the Rain & Hail Insurance Society, Hawkeye PAC, the University of Iowa, Maytag, BH Equities, McAninch Corp., Kirke-Van Orsdel Inc., the Wittern Group, Mid-America Group Ltd., CRST International, Meredith Corp., Essex Meadows, Ruan Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and EMC Insurance Group Inc.

According to the Web site, which is maintained by The Center for Responsive Politics, Des Moines businesses and residents have kicked in more than $3 million to the various political interests during this election cycle. Cedar Rapids is far behind with a total of about $650,000.

Broken down by metro-area ZIP codes, Des Moines’ business-oriented downtown area leads the way with more than $443,000 in contributions as of Sept. 13. The 50312 district – which includes the swanky south of Grand area – was close behind with about $442,000. A pair of West Des Moines neighborhoods – ZIP codes 50266 and 50265 – each donated about $340,000.