“I’d rather give it to charity than to him [Barack Obama].  If you do it this year or you do it next year, the difference is humongous because of the taxes.”

Huizenga was referencing the selling of the remainder of his shares to Stephen Ross.  He wants to speed up the negotiations due to an impending capital gains tax hike if Obama takes the White House.  Huizenga represents wealthy America, who notoriously vote for Republicans due to the party’s inclination to keep taxes low on the rich.  It seems like Huizenga is already projecting the Obama camp as the winners and is looking to unload his shares before taxes rise.  He clearly would rather give the money from such a sale to charity (or maybe his family) over passing it on to the government.

Usually one thing that athletes and owners agree upon is who they will vote for in an election.  Both entities tend to qualify for entry into the higher tax brackets.  It is very interesting to see how many athletes are switching away from Conservatism to publicly supporting the Democratic candidate, Obama.  How many owners will be bucking the trend to vote Republican?

Traditionally, most athletes have been conservatives or Republicans. People who pay heavy taxes, especially young athletes who are paying more taxes from their first taxes than they have ever made their entire life, have a good reason to be anti-tax. This has led them to be more traditional followers of the Republican party. Or they are apolitical because they are so involved in their athletic career.

It definitely makes sense, which is why I was not surprised to hear that a large portion of NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB owners support John McCain.  If athletes have an incentive to vote Republican based on lower taxes, then owners should be even more inclined to lean to the right, as they are in an even higher tax bracket.

The original story, which was eventually picked up by many media outlets, first appeared in Politico.  This statement wraps up the entire article:

Through the end of June, team owners in the four major sports and their families have given to or raised as much or more than $3.2 million for McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, compared with as much as $615,000 for his Democratic rival Obama.

But the sports industry is only one small sector of the general economy, and Obama has been destroying McCain in overall contributions.

Obama, in collecting $356 million in his personal and joint campaign accounts, has nearly doubled McCain’s overall fund raising, and has raised more money from most business and industrial sectors.

I can guarantee one thing: the American public will be more greatly influenced by who America’s high-profile athletes support than the political preferences of owners of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Chicago Cubs.

For a long time now, LeBron James has tried to stay out of the spotlight when it comes to politics.  Although James has been shining bright in the media ever since entering the league, he has been rather dull when it comes to his affiliations with politics and other support groups (much like Tiger Woods has been).  James and other celebrities are afraid that they will lose fans and money by endorsing a particular side or view that differs from that of their fans.  Michael Jordan’s famous words “Republicans buy sneakers too,” shows that athletes do think about politics in advertising and when they speak publicly.

Some believe that an athlete or someone who has a large influence over many people like an athlete, should not speak out on public topics.  Leigh Steinberg believes that athletes are role models and have to step up and show people what they believe.  But when should athletes speak up?

Last week the Los Angeles Times reported that LeBron James donated $20,000 to the campaign of Illinois Senator, Barack Obama, joining his “shy” buddy Tiger Woods’ donations to Obama’s team. With LeBron James and Tiger Woods on your side, what can’t you do?

The presidential race is about to heat up as many celebrities are choosing sides publicly.  LeBron might not have wanted anyone to talk about his donation, but he is certainly not the first athlete to endorse a presidential candidate.  Troy Aikman was a HUGE Bush supporter.

Darren did a post in March titled Publicly Endorsing Political Candidates, which tells a little more about athletes sponsoring candidates and speaking out publicly.  It tells Greg Oden’s views and shows what Steinberg set up for athletes and Obama.  Jason Belzer recommends the website Ballers4Barack.com, which is specifically dedicated to basketball players who endorse Obama.