Robert “Bud” Cramer

Alabama Democrat Robert E. “Bud” Cramer no longer serves in Congress, but he’s donating campaign funds to his colleagues as if he still were.

Cramer, who represented northern Alabama’s 5th District from 1991 through 2008, gave $68,000 in this year’s second quarter to Democratic candidates and committees, according to a filing his still-active campaign committee made Monday .  

Cramer’s committee gave $50,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the campaign arm of House Democrats. He gave $2,500 to the Blue Dog PAC and also gave money to House or Senate members who affiliate with that group of centrist Democrats who promote fiscal restraint : Reps. Bobby Bright of Alabama ($2,000), Dan Boren of Oklahoma ($1,500) and Lincoln Davis of Tennessee ($2,000) and Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas ($1,000). Bright will face a tough re-election race.  

Cramer’s committee also gave $4,000 to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who also faces the voters in 2010.  

Though Cramer’s contributions were generous, they amounted to a very small fraction of his overall campaign treasury. Cramer had $1.3 million in his account as July began.