This kind of undercuts the notion that military voters would rather see a Republican in the White House next fall, or John McCain instead of Barack Obama.

During World War II, soldiers crouching in foxholes penned letters assuring their sweethearts that they'd be home soon. Now, between firefights in the Iraqi desert, some infantrymen have been sending a different kind of mail stateside: two or three hundred dollars -- or whatever they can spare -- towards a presidential election that could very well determine just how soon they come home.

According to an analysis of campaign contributions by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Democrat Barack Obama has received nearly six times as much money from troops deployed overseas at the time of their contributions than has Republican John McCain, and the fiercely anti-war Ron Paul, though he suspended his campaign for the Republican nomination months ago, has received more than four times McCain's haul.

Despite McCain's status as a decorated veteran and a historically Republican bent among the military, members of the armed services overall -- whether stationed overseas or at home -- are also favoring Obama with their campaign contributions in 2008, by a $55,000 margin. Although 59 percent of federal contributions by military personnel has gone to Republicans this cycle, of money from the military to the presumed presidential nominees, 57 percent has gone to Obama.

This is not a normal occurrence -- it's a map-changing one. In 2000, for instance, George W. Bush outraised Al Gore among military personnel by roughly a 2-to-1 margin. In 2004, Bush's advantage over John Kerry in this metric was 1.5-to-1. Some analysts may try to explain this disparity away -- some in the article linked above, for instance, suggest that making contributions to an anti-war candidate can stem from news of an extended deployment, or that Obama is simply more savvy about online fundraising than McCain. But does go beyond this. Contributions do not overwhelmingly shift merely because of technology. There is something much more fundamental occurring -- a shift within the military away from supporting the GOP because that's the way it's done towards a willingness to support the Democratic Party, which in fact is much better for the American soldier (and indeed the nation as a whole).