All of the people from the donor list contacted by the Minnesota Independent acknowledged having contributed to Coleman. Most had not heard about the breach until contacted by MnIndy. A few said they had heard by email from Wikileaks.org or the Coleman campaign. One stated that he feared a recent unauthorized withdrawal from his bank account was related to the breach.

More than a few said they suspected the Franken campaign was behind the data exposure.

Here is a sample of the more than 60 reactions the Minnesota Independent has received so far from campaign contributors, gathered via email and phone. Those contacted had made a donation of less than $200, for which normally only the amount and date of contribution are made public.

Have you heard about the apparent data leak?

“No — to my great frustration — I had not heard about the leak nor had anyone notified me of the leak. … Shockingly, your email is the first I’ve heard of this. So should I feel (RELATIVELY) reassured that someone can’t use my credit card fraudulently? … Thanks for bringing this to my attention — seems the Coleman Campaign should have done so if they knew about it as the article suggests.” —Bragg Van Antwerp

“This is crazy. … This is amazing. I’ve called the [Coleman] office twice in the past hour and it goes straight to voicemail. … If you want to characterize how I feel about it: extreme anger.” —Kelly McShane

“I have donated to Norm Coleman several times over the years. I do not recall the dates or the amounts, but I expect those donations to be a matter of public record. I have not heard about the apparent leak, but with Al Franken involved in the recount, nothing would surprise me other than to have Norm Coleman win. He’s an honest person who is in a contest with the devil himself.” —Nancy Krupp

“I looked at the sheet and all of the info seems to be correct. Not a good deal.” —John McDonald

“Yes, heard about it from a friend. Haven’t seen anything in the news and have not been contacted directly from Coleman’s team (at least nothing that has passed through spam filters and made my inbox). As you’d expect, I’ve cancelled the payment card in question and my compatriots that also contributed have done the same. This is incredibly troubling from a variety of angles (online security to possible political motivations behind posting the information). We’re losing our freedoms and our trust in institutions and it’s absolutely a scary time.” —Michael McPhie

“I did indeed donate to the Coleman campaign a couple months ago when all the BS with that IDIOT Franken erupted. I believe it was $50.00. I am not at all surprised, and did not know about this being leaked out till now – what is with all the corruption up there?????” —Tom Martland

“Please continue to investigate this! I am not willing at this point to cancel my credit card, as this is the card I have had for over a decade and I use it almost exclusively.” —Jan Gravelle

“I have sent a copy of this to the FBI. Do you have any other information?” —James Lysaght

“Last week I did receive an email from Wikileaks, but it appeared in my email as spam, and I deleted it without reading it. Today I received an email notification from the Coleman campaign manager, apparently the one referred to in media stories. Last week my checking account was breached and unauthorized withdrawals were made. I have changed my numbers, including the credit card from which I made the donations to the Coleman campaign.” —Lars Hydle

“The first I heard of the leak was in an email this morning from Coleman’s campaign. Very perturbed to say the least that this was not brought to my attention earlier.” —Kelly Eull

“It isn’t unusual. I had another credit card hijacked. This stuff happens now.” —Sam Waters

“BTW, it doesn’t matter to me if my donation is made public, but the way in which it was done concerns me.” —Erich Kern

“I read a news article regarding the leak this morning, but to my knowledge I haven’t received any information about the matter from the campaign.” —Anthony Sievert

“I had not heard about the database leak until I received your e-mail. Please protect what is left of my anonymity.” —[Name withheld]

“I can’t believe it. … I’m in a state of shock.” —Jerry Missel

“I’m an attorney and frankly I’m very pissed off … at whoever leaked the information or whoever [hacked it]. … Political donations are a form of free speech. I have a right to my free speech and a right to my privacy. … [I may] file a class action lawsuit. This is bullshit — excuse my French.” —Denise Borner

“George Soros and his boys have a massive number of experts who try to hack into the Coleman Website.” —[Donor from 301 area code who wouldn't give his name]

“Text of received email from wikileaks. Suspect this was financed by George Soros, et al” —Louis Knapp

“I have no idea who you are or what the Minnesota Independent is. But if you are some shill for the Franken campaign, leave me alone. I loathe, hate, despise and detest Franken and all of his supporters. I believe that this so-called hacking is just more dirty tricks by that dirtbag and his pals. Please do not contact me again.” —Gary Govro

“I had not heard about this leak from any source until your email. Which is REALLY pathetic.” —Simon Thomas

According to the Wikileaks.org Web site and Wikipedia (which says it has no connection to Wikileaks), Wikileaks launched a little more than two years ago, primarily as a venue for publicizing information from repressive regimes. The early focus, according to the site’s self-description quoted in Secrecy News, was on:

China, Russia, central eurasia, the middle east and sub-saharan Africa, but we also expect to be of assistance to those in the west who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their own governments and corporations.

Key to the enterprise is the claimed ability to shield the source of the leaked information. An early wiki format allowing wide access to posting and editing information on the site quickly changed to a more restrictive structure, governed by a staff and advisory board who mostly remain anonymous.

The site claims to have leaked more than 1.2 million documents, including the U.S. Army handbook for Guantanamo Bay detention camp, secrets of the Church of Scientology and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s e-mails on Yahoo.  In the last 24 hours, besides announcing the Coleman leak via Twitter at about 7:30 Tuesday night, wikileaks.org has announced leaks as varied as national press salaries in the United Arab Emirates, a Pentagon memo regarding exposure of U.S. soldiers to toxic waste and information about the Handelsblad Bank.

Last month the tables were turned on Wikileaks when an e-mail listing some of its own financial donors was revealed on the site. They included convicted and reformed hacker Adrian Lamo.