Residents of Brunswick, N.C., Horry and Georgetown counties ponied up just less than $1 million for federal candidates and committees that support them in the past two years.

And that's just the donations more than $200.

According to documents filed with the Federal Election Commission, which does not report gifts less than $200, people and organizations in the three counties gave $947,409 to campaigns such as those for presidential candidates George Bush and John Kerry, and U.S. Senate candidates Inez Tenenbaum and Jim DeMint.

The donations were more than the John Kerry-John Edwards campaign received statewide. The Democrats got $559,000 from South Carolinians.

The Bush-Cheney campaign, by contrast, collected $3 million in the Palmetto State. But Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jim DeMint topped that with the $3.5 million he gathered for his successful race.

DeMint's opponent, Democrat Inez Tenenbaum, received $2 million in campaign contributions statewide.

Builders, developers and real estate interests were the most consistent donors when it came to campaign contributions in the past two years.

Yet two of the top donors were Pawleys Island residents who mostly are involved in charitable work.

Katy Close, a doctor and heir to the Springs Industries fortune, was the top giver with $33,000. All of it went to Democratic campaigns or candidates.

Many family members are consistent givers to Democratic campaigns. Close's brother-in-law is Erskine Bowles, who ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat for a U.S. Senate seat in North Carolina.

Close, who has given her time for the past several years as a doctor at the Baskervill Ministries medical clinic, is in Maryland studying for another medical degree and could not be reached.

The No. 3 donor is a semiretired Pawleys Island man who spends his time working for charities.

All of Carl Falk's $22,200 went to Republican candidates and causes. Falk could not be reached.

The local donors are typical of the two basic types of people who give money to big campaigns, said Coastal Carolina University political science professor Paul Peterson.

Many givers are people with business interests such as development, insurance or banking, he said. They usually donate to candidates, often of both parties, because "that just gives you access."

Peterson said it appears Falk is the type of donor who is giving money for a cause and is "concerned with more than his own well-being."

Falk heads the Falk-Griffin Foundation, which aims to strengthen families by using Christian principles, and gives money for area charities that help further that goal.

He was a major donor to Gov. Mark Sanford's campaign, and Sanford later appointed Falk to his Commission on Management, Accountability and Performance. The panel studied state government structure and suggested ways to improve it.

Falk was not the only major donor to be tapped for other service.

Harry Butler, a semiretired developer, was the fourth-highest donor for federal races in the area. He also was a major donor to Sanford and was appointed by the governor to the State Ports Authority.

The large donors stand out, but scores of area residents gave hundreds of thousands of dollars, most of it in $500 or $1,000 amounts.

Donors are to be commended because they help the democratic system, Peterson said.

"For me, a couple thousand bucks is a huge amount of money," and it probably is for most people, but on a nationwide scale, the largest local donations are not unusual, he said.

The system would not work better if gifts were banned and campaigns were publicly financed, Peterson said. Such a system would favor incumbents over qualified newcomers, he said.

John Crangle, director of S.C. Common Cause, agreed that donations are not likely to cause undue influence on an election or politician.

The watchdog group is much more concerned about groups that are not affiliated with candidates that can use large amounts of money for ads and do not have to account for their funds.

"We're still concerned about the enormous costs of these campaigns," and the need for candidates to raise ever-higher amounts to run, Crangle said.

Political scientist Neal Thigpen of Francis Marion University said giving is one way people can participate in politics and that, sometimes, large donors do not participate in other ways.

"There are just those people out there who have that kind of money and who will give it," and they are highly valued by candidates and parties, Thigpen said.

The campaign money collected in the three counties seems like a lot to people who are raising money for charity, said Judianne Schmenk, campaign and communications director for Georgetown County United Way. "I wish we got that," she said.

The charity's goal this year is $525,000. The United way goal in Horry is $1.4 million, and in Brunswick County, it is $250,000.

But the results of politics and campaigns also matter in people's lives, and elected officials serve the public for the common good, Schmenk said.

"We hope that people think we were as important," she said, "because we're working for the common good of society also."

Inside | Individual donors, 7C

$33,000 | Katy Close, Pawleys Island, doctor

$24,000 | Ladane Williamson, Ocean Isle Beach, N.C., developer

$22,200 | Carl Falk, Pawleys Island, philanthropist

$21,750 | Harry Butler, Georgetown, developer

$18,500 | Lloyd Coppedge, Myrtle Beach, commercial property dealer

$18,000 | Mark Saunders, Holden Beach, N.C., developer

$17,950 | Wayne Lambert, Southport, N.C., homebuilder

$12,750 | Doug Wendel, president, Burroughs & Chapin Co. Inc.

$11,000 | Robert Schofield III, Georgetown, investor

$10,000 | Robert Brooks, North Myrtle Beach, Hooters owner

Top ZIP codes for donations

29572 | Myrtle Beach, $230,143

29578 | Myrtle Beach, $72,247

29582 | North Myrtle Beach, $71,760

29577 | Myrtle Beach, $63,100

29440 | Georgetown, $56,833