A Mistake to Assume That the Military Supports Candidates as a Bloc

A rather startling find in the Salt Lake City newspaper:

While conventional wisdom put military voters behind the Republican McCain, a Navy war hero, a Salt Lake Tribune analysis of Federal Election Commission records last month showed Obama running nearly even with - and maybe exceeding - McCain in donations from military members.

Both men collected over a quarter of a million dollars - McCain's $297,000 to Obama's $284,000 - in direct donations greater than $200 from people identifying themselves as employees of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps or Coast Guard, according to federal reports.

Those reports do not include donors who gave under $200 - a group that generally has been more generous to Obama than McCain.

And yet, the shrillest voices in the defense and conservative blogospheres would have us believe that military support for Republicans is monolithic.