Nine times over the past year, Hermine A. Sanders of Killeen has put a check in the mail to help put John McCain into the White House.

She’s among the most loyal of McCain’s Bell County area donors, and there are a total of 16 of them. Together, they’ve sent his campaign nearly $9,000, according to the latest finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.

“I think McCain is the only one of them who will take care of veterans,” Mrs. Sanders said Wednesday.

She said her late husband, Robert, served in the Army during World War II, the Korean War and the war in Vietnam before retiring as a sergeant major.

During the later years of his life, he fought the Department of Veterans Affairs for disability income he believed was owed to him for his years of service.

“He passed away three years ago still waiting for the decision,” Mrs. Sanders said. “He was entitled to retroactive pay he never received.”

Mrs. Sanders is not McCain’s biggest donor in the 765 zip code area. That’s Dr. Holly E. Atlas, a physician living in Salado. Dr. Atlas has contributed $1,500, FEC fillings show.

McCain is not the leading money raiser in this primary campaign to determine who will go on the November presidential ballot for the Democratic and Republican parties.

The leader is Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has raised $13,600 in this region.

However, by far the majority of that amount was accounted for by just one donor - Ratnadurga Jampala of Temple. She has contributed $9,200. Mrs. Jampala could not be reached for comment.

Phillip Prater Jr. of Temple was next in line in terms of large contributors to the Clinton campaign. He has donated $2,300.

Without those two large donors, Clinton would have so far raised about what Barack Obama has been able to pull out of the area. His campaign has received a total of $3,153 from the 765 zip code. Those dollars came from 13 people. His largest contributors included William Brady of Hamilton, with $450, and Lois Reiter of Gatesville, with $390.

Republican Ron Paul is actually running third in the dollars race in the area. He has raised $7,522. His largest donor is Lori L. Faulkner of Rockdale.

Mike Huckabee has raised only $1,525, and his main supporter is Steven Schlotfeldt, who gave $500.

“I’m a little surprised Obama has not picked up more support here, because he’s doing so well among Democrats, especially with the latest CBS poll showing him running much stronger against McCain than Clinton is,” said Dr. David Holcomb, assistant professor of history and political science at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.

But, Holcomb said he’s not surprised by the strong Republican support here.

“A lot of Democrats think this is the year they can retake the White House, so I would think it would make it easier to raise funds for Democrats,” he said. “I’m not sure if fund-raising is down a bit for Republicans, if there is some dissatisfaction with McCain, but I wouldn’t be surprised. There hasn’t been quite the same energy in Texas.”

Holcomb said Paul has raised a large amount of money, not just here but around the country.

“Ron Paul seems to have a stealth following,” he said. “His essentially libertarian message struck a chord with a lot of voters, but he’s not been able to gain the mainstream attention in the media or within his own party to make a viable alternative.”