Amazon's latest product category: politicians

By REED STEVENSON

SEATTLE - Shoppers at online retailer Amazon.com Inc. can now spend money on something new -- US presidential candidates.

A new feature that debuted Friday collects campaign contributions of up to US$200 for US presidential candidates.

The Seattle, Washington-based retailer, which claims 37 million active accounts, said on its website that it is "trying to take the friction out of grassroots contributions to presidential candidates."

For that reason, Amazon said it is not endorsing any candidates and is charging each campaign its usual processing fees for the payments, which it will donate to a non-profit, non-partisan civil group.

"For us, we think this is an interesting but natural extension of what we do every day," said Amazon spokesman Chris Bruzzo. "Our goal here was to make it as easy for people to make contributions to presidential campaigns as it is to buy the latest Harry Potter book."

So far the campaign contributions page lists 17 presidential hopefuls, in alphabetical order, including President Bush.

Among others, by early Saturday Democratic poll leader John Kerry had garnered 62 contributions totalling US$1,699 at Amazon.com, former Vermont Governor Howard Dean had had 72 for a total of US$1,095.01 and Libertarian Party candidate Michael Badnarik had had 26 contributions totalling US$252 at the site.

The 2004 presidential campaign has been noted for the extent to which candidates, particularly Dean, have drummed up support and collected contributions over the web.

Some campaigns, including those of Bush, Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman and a few others, were not yet accepting contributions on the site. Amazon said it was seeking permission to accept contributions for those candidates.

"We certainly do want to have all the eligible candidates signed up," Bruzzo said.

Contributors can donate from US$5 to US$200 instantly using a credit or debit card, giving to any number of candidates. Amazon said the new feature is a test and "may decide to discontinue it at any time."

- REUTERS