Prez Is $ King Of Queen$

Its no secret, but certainly may surprise many, that here in Queens, President George W. Bush is the hands-down winner in the race for campaign contributions.
According to the latest figures from opensecrets.org, the website of the Center for Responsive Politics (CPR) 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 Bush has a distinct fundraising advantage over Democratic opponent Sen. John Kerry in the borough.
As of October 4, Bush had raised just over $300,000 in Queens, while the Kerry campaign had collected $168,080 from borough residents.
And if money given to the party national committees is added into the mix, the gap grows even wider. Contributions to the Republican National Committee (RNC) tally $126,464. That is nearly double the $64,748 given to the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
One person who isnt surprised by these figures is City Councilmember Bill de Blasio, who was the State Chair of the John Edwards campaign and has taken an active role in the Kerry campaign.
"Im not shocked by that," de Blasio told The Queens Courier. "I think theres not always a correlation between party registration or typical voting patterns and fundraising. It doesnt take many high donors to pad the numbers and it doesnt in any way detract from the fact that Queens is overwhelmingly for John Kerry."
A geographic breakdown of contributions by zip code shows that central Queens is the literal and figurative bulls-eye for presidential campaign fundraisers. Draw a circle around the adjoining communities of Forest Hills (11375), Rego Park (11374) and Middle Village (11379) and you have the three most generous zip codes in the borough. Forest Hills was the clear winner, delivering a total of $84,063 to the two White House hopefuls, close to $30,000 more than Rego Park in second place. Bush took in the lions share of the Forest Hills dollars with $32,200 in contributions, but that zip code was also Kerrys top spot in the borough, netting him $24,783.
Southeast Queens had the poorest showing on the list, as parts of Jamaica, Cambria Heights, Rosedale and Saint Albans all came in with less than $2,000 total each. Far Rockaway (11693) tallied only one contribution $200 to the DNC from Ethel Thomas, who could not be reached for comment.
There were two big movers and shakers in the borough, ironically one for each side. Harrison Lefrak of the Lefrak Organization donated a hefty $25,000 to the RNC, while Mike Rienzi of Rienzi and Sons in Astoria gave the same to the DNC.
E-mail this reporter at editrich@queenscourier.com