I'm pleased to have played a small part in helping our friends at the Sunlight Foundation pull togetherthis nifty piece of 3-D (Dynamic, Data-Driven) journalism on the Wall Street bailout: a Google Motion Chart built on top of data from the nonpartisan, invaluable Center for Responsive Politics that lets you see just how big the big money from FIRE (Finance, Insurance and Real Estate) has grown in the last 20 years, and who gets it.

If you play with the chart by mousing around with it, you can see how each sector (represented by a bubble) has invested in politicians over the years. Two interesting observations: note how between 1996 and 2000, the money from FIRE exploded just as the industry was pushing Washington to deregulate finance (by repealing the Glass-Steagall Act, among other things). Also note how the tilt of FIRE's money shifts from the Rs to the Ds between 2004 and 2008, just as party control shifted to the Ds in Congress.

For more help understanding the chart, watch this screencast by Sunlight's Larry Makinson:

Sunlight has put the underlying code for the chart up on the web, in case you want to make your own narration. Cool.