Oh noooooo, GOP Finds They’re $10 Mil Short for Convention

[Hope And Change]

DISPATCH FROM ST. PAUL, MINN.

GOP convention officials discover deficit just in time

They recently found they were $10 million short, but have since scrambled to make up much of the gap.
By Tom Hamburger and P.J. Huffstutter, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

August 10, 2008

ST. PAUL, MINN. -- Republican Party officials have developed a well-deserved reputation for planning evermore extravagant national conventions, each built on the party's ability to secure abundant cash.

But just six weeks before the convention, where Arizona Sen. John McCain is to accept his party's nomination, executives found they were about $10 million short of what they needed for a celebration they had already scaled back.

Officials say they have already secured most of the funds and that meeting budget needs was never in doubt. Still, this previously unknown -- and rather unusual -- last-minute GOP fundraising headache underscores the challenges facing both parties: A souring economy, complex campaign finance rules and the candidates' talk of reform has discouraged participation by corporations and the lobbyists who advocate for them.

It also lays bare the pressures facing midsize metropolitan areas such as the Twin Cities and Denver, where local business leaders must join home-state elected officials to plead for tens of millions of dollars in donations from companies and wealthy individuals to cover costs.

Now, officials from both parties are joining campaign finance reform advocates in calling for change.


http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-gop10-2008aug10,0,1928236,full.story">Full article here

[ikojo]

1. QUICK..call Exxon Mobile!

[saltpoint]

2. Not a problem. Cindy McCain to the rescue -- as she whips out the

plagiarized recipe book and good lord what a bake sale they'll have!

[Dollface]

6. More likely she whip out her credit card

[saltpoint]

7. : )

[rasputin1952]

3. This...from the "party of fiscal responsibilty"...

Oh, the irony...:D

[nc4bo]

4. NO Frickin WAY. QUICK! Follow that money, hurry up already! nt

[saltpoint]

5. "Yeah. Operator. Look. Get me Howard Hunt."

. . . .

"Dead? What do you mean he's dead?"

[rucky]

8. Time to cut the hooker fund.

[cliffordu]

9. ROFL.

[TexasObserver]

10. "The Exxon Mobil GOP Convention"

Big Oil will find a way to pay that.

[Arkana]

11. Oh no. They'll have to cancel the cavalcade of whores!

At least the ones who do it for money, anyway.

[POAS]

12. Are you kidding?

No whores no convention. After all, you can't have a convention without delegates.

[Vinca]

13. They could sell souvenir photos of the airport restroom or

of the bridge that collapsed under the Republican regime.

[GoesTo11]

14. If they give me a $10 billion earmark, I'll give them $10 million

That's the way it works, isn't it?

[AlCzervik]

15. so is the "Outfits made out of American flags" Pageant canceled?

hmm, huh? Drink it in, drink it in.