Don’t get too excited, Obama supporters. OpenSecrets’ sample is 154 out of hundreds of thousands of troops actually deployed. Obama supporters — in the military or not — have been more likely to make a donation than McCain supporters. For example, Obama outraised McCain by more than 2:1 in the last monthly total. Yet, Obama has a 1-point lead nationally. You can have 600,000 McCain supporters and 200,000 Obama supporters, but Obama will still take in more money.

A former West Point professor, Jason Dempsey, noted that the small set of contributions from deployed troops at this point in 2008 — just 323 donations — should not be extrapolated to form conclusions about military personnel overall. “If, on a bad day, a guy gets that letter that says [his tour has been extended] from 12 to 15 months, that could spur a quick donation and expression of anger,” he said. “Donating helps members of the military express their political views privately.”

It should also be noted that records are not kept publicly available for donors who contribute less than $200 to a candidate. So if a soldier donates $50 or $100 to McCain, that total wouldn’t have appeared in public records. I have an odd feeling that your average rank-and-file soldier doesn’t have $500 to throw at a candidate.