• January 7, 2002· Example of a palindromic year: 2002.

• A palindromic Washington, DC zip code: 20002.

• Amount of federal campaign contributions that came from 20002, address of many lobbyists, in the 2000 elections: $3.3 million.

• Rank of metropolitan Washington, DC area in federal campaign giving toward 2002 elections: 1.

• Average amount raised so far by Senators facing reelection in 2002: $1.1 million.

• Average amount these Senators have to raise through the end of 2002 to match what Senators spent to win two years ago: $6.6 million.

• Average amount raised by successful House challengers in 2000 elections: $2.02 million.

• Number of House challengers who beat incumbents: 6.

• Last palindromic year: 1991.

• Amount of money, soft and hard money combined, raised by national GOP and Democratic parties since then: $4.4 billion.

• Number of members of the U.S. House of Representatives named "Bob": 22.1

* a word, verse, or sentence (as "Able was I ere I saw Elba") or a number (as 1881) that reads the same backward or forward. -Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.

Note: Campaign finance statistics are from the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) or are calculated from data provided by CRP.  

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1 For the purposes of this analysis, "Robert", "Bobby", and "Rob" are all counted as "Bob". A complete list of House members named "Bob" follows:
1 Aderholt, Robert (Republican, Alabama District 4)
2 Andrews, Robert E (Democrat, New Jersey District 1)
3 Barr, Bob (Republican, Georgia District 7)
4 Borski, Robert A (Democrat, Pennsylvania District 3)