Hillary Clinton may be raising more than half a million dollars a day, but in a guide written by her campaign intended for grassroots event hosts the emphasis is on the collection of data about attendees. The document, obtained by the Sunlight Foundation's Political Party Time, tells hosts that sharing the sign-up data of the guests is "the single most important thing you can do for the campaign and for Hillary."
Read the full article and guide here: http://politicalpartytime.org/blog/2015/07/07/hillary-clintons-guide-to-throwing-a-house-party/
The weirdest political fundraiser of the year? This is our pick:
Party people, the year is quickly drawing to a close and you know what that means: A look back at the best – as in, creative/kooky/oddball – parties of 2014! We’ll be counting down the top 10 parties all week (or if you want to see them all ahead of time, check out our blog post, you cheater).
So here it is, our #1 pick for the weirdest fundraiser of the year:
#1: Allen West's Black Tie Boot Camp Fundraiser
Former Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., hasn’t held elected office in two years, but that hasn’t kept him off the party circuit. His leadership PAC, the Allen West Guardian Fund, is still raising and spending big bucks, according to Sunlight’s Real-Time Campaign Finance tracker. In March, West threw a weekend-long event billed as a black tie boot camp. The invite is, by far, one of Party Time’s all-time favorites.
The 10 weirdest political fundraisers of the year: #2
Party people, the year is quickly drawing to a close and you know what that means: A look back at the best – as in, creative/kooky/oddball – parties of 2014! We’ll be counting down the top 10 parties all week (or if you want to see them all ahead of time, check out our blog post, you cheater) Here’s #2!
2) Cheap eats for big bucks!
In a nod to his Chicago-area district, Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., threw a hot dog reception in February, where the street food standby went for $1,000 to $2,500. And Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., recently had his yearly pancake breakfast, where a short stack went for $1,000 to $5,000.
Bonus points for great clip art in these invites, too:
Chicago Hot Dog Reception
Annual Pancake Breakfast Featuring Real Vermont Maple Syrup
What were the weirdest political fundraisers of 2014? Here's #4 and #3!
Party people, the year is quickly drawing to a close and you know what that means: A look back at the best – as in, creative/kooky/oddball – parties of 2014! We’ll be counting down the top 10 parties all week (or if you want to see them all ahead of time, check out our blog post, you cheater) Here's #4 and #3.
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#4: Tom Udall plays The Game of Thrones
Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., cashed in on the “Game of Thrones” craze when his campaign raffled off a spot at a VIP reception with series creator George R. R. Martin at his personal theater in Santa Fe.
#3: Congressional Carbo-loading
Like many other political watchers, Party Time kept up with the midterms madness with plenty of coffee and donuts. But we noticed an interesting trend in the two or three days prior to Election Day: some serious carbo-loading! Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro had his annual pasta and politics dinneron Nov. 2, and Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., threw a pasta party of his own the next afternoon.
Stay tuned tomorrow for the second craziest political fundraiser of 2014. Til next time, partiers!
Shake Your Moneymaker! Party Time's Official 2014 Playlist Lives!
It's baaaack! The annual Political Party Time playlist is here for your streaming pleasure! For the second year running, we scoured our archives to find the many political fundraising events held at concerts this year. Then we culled together some of the marquee names for one gold-minuted playlist.
No surprise: We hit the jackpot again this year. From Justin Timberlake to Stevie Wonder and Stevie Nicks, politicians of all stripes jumped on the opportunity to use big-named artists — and VIP suites — to shake their moneymakers with big donors. So pop open the Rdio player and enjoy, or stream the playlist from here. (Last year's playlist is available here.) Oh, and there's a $ubtle theme to $ome of these $ongs. $ee if you can figure it out!
Shake Your Moneymaker Tracklist:
Gwyneth Paltrow: “Singin’ in the Rain/Umbrella”
Grateful Dead: “Shakedown Street”
Stevie Wonder: “Signed, Sealed, Delivered”
Fleetwood Mac: “The Chain”
Justin Timberlake: “What Goes Around …/… Comes Around”
What were the weirdest political fundraisers of 2014? Here's our list.
Party people, the year is quickly drawing to a close and you know what that means: A look back at the best – as in, creative/kooky/oddball – parties of 2014! We'll be counting down the top 10 parties all week (or if you want to see them all ahead of time, check out our blog post, you cheater).
What were the weirdest political fundraisers of the year? Here's the bottom half of our list:
10) Former President Bill Clinton headlined a luncheon for Georgia’s Democratic Senate candidate Michelle Nunn at Usher’s house in Atlanta. (We had our fingers crossed for a Bubba-on-the-sax rendition of “DJ Got Us Fallin in Love.”)
9) Rep. Loretta Sanchez caught our attention with a pricey mani/pedi party in March at Tammy’s Nails on Capitol Hill.
8) Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., had an impressive last dash for dough: Hillary Clinton headlined a high-dollar cocktail reception in Manhattan, and then Stevie Wonder crooned for campaign cash in New Orleans.
7) Three Republican gents danced for dollars during Justin Timberlake’s concert in D.C.: New York Rep. Michael Grimm, North Carolina Rep. Richard Hudson and Georgia Rep. Tom Price donned a “Suit & Tie” for the February fundraiser.
6) New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie seemed to really dig celebrating birthdays. After throwing his own b-day bash, a month later, he brought out the balloons and candles for another celebration, this one in Iowa for Gov. Terry Branstad. Just look at those cupcakes!
5) And, speaking of celebrating a personal milestone with a campaign event, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., and her husband marked their 30-year wedding anniversary in July with a fundraiser in Miami. Because nothing says “I love you” like a $1,000 political donation.
Stay tuned for the rest of our countdown this week!
"You are Cordially Invited to a Debt Retirement Reception"
Recently elected members of Congress are excited to get to work... paying off their massive debts. That's the theme this week at Party Time, where we've seen quite a few debt retirement fundraisers pop up in the wake of the most expensive midterm elections, ever. Above, Sen. Pat Roberts and Rep. Bob Dold get down to business with invites here in D.C.
View the invites on Party Time: Sen. Pat Roberts | Rep. Bob Dold | GIF via Giphy
Landrieu gets by with a little help from her friends
Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu is still caught up in a tough runoff election in Louisiana, and it's not looking good. She voted in favor of the failed Keystone XL pipeline, and articles are being written with headlines like "Democrats Are Giving Up On Mary Landrieu." Ah.
But if her fundraising habits are taken into account, she's still got some senatorial buddies. Today and tomorrow, Landrieu will be throwing two inside-the-beltway parties to boost her campaign in the home stretch. The second event lists nearly every Senate Democrat as a host — 36 in all. So cheer up, Mary, because you might have something to celebrate after all.
Fundraisers via Sunlight Foundation's Party Time | Gif via Giphy
Who doesn't love a good book club — especially when it comes with a whole bunch of political cash? Certainly not the GOP!
...[T]his book club gathers at a Republican social parlor in the Capitol’s shadow. And unlike a local library’s book club, this event doubles as a political fund-raiser.
For the book club’s members — an A-list of lobbyists from banks and insurance companies — the main attraction is access to the House Financial Services Committee. The cost of admission is a campaign donation to whichever committee member is playing host that month.
Political Party of the Day: Pre-election carbo-loading with the GOP
No matter how you vote, we can all agree that pasta is a great thing, right? Right.
From the looks of the PT calendar this week, pasta is the plat de jour for the GOP: On Sunday afternoon, Republican Marc Molinaro — running for his second term as the county executive in Dutchess County, New York, threw a Pasta and Politics dinner. Today, Rep. Jason Shimkus follows it up with his own carb-friendly funder. His 'Annual Pasta Party' takes place in Illinois this evening.
View the invites via Party Time: Molinaro, Shimkus
While Fleetwood Mac may be more well-known for hits like "Landslide" and "Go Your Own Way," the legendary rock band hit the charts early on in their career with this cover of Elmore James' "Shake Your Moneymaker" above: And that's exactly what Gwen Moore is hoping supporters do tonight at her Fleetwood Mac fundraiser.
Moore, a Democratic rep from Wisconsin, has rented out a suite at the Verizon Center and is packing it big donors for the show. The price for 1 seat: $1,500! Peep the invite on Party Time below:
Four truly terrifying facts about the money behind the 2014 elections, via the Sunlight blog.
The scariest fact of all? There’s a lot we still don’t know about. Who are the donors behind the dark money groups? How many expenditures and fundraisers are we missing? We may never know.
Wednesday, Oct. 29: Biden in Boston; Victoria's Secret Founder Throws Dem Funder
Six days til' Election Day, partiers! The mad dash for last-minute political cash continues for the Democrats with two marquee funders on tap: Joe Biden is helping out Martha Coakley in Massachusetts, while Congresswoman Joyce Beatty is getting a lift from Victoria's Secret head honcho Les Wexner in Ohio.
See the invites via Party Time: Biden/Coakley, Beatty | Photo of Boston via Flickr user Werner Kernz | GIFs via Giphy
Tuesday, October 28th: Rubio Returns to Iowa, Obama Back in Milwaukee
Start your countdown clocks partiers: We're officially one week out from Election Day. Let the final mad dash for cash begin! Today: The Big Cheese is in Milwaukee while prospective-cheese Marco Rubio heads back to Iowa.
See the invites on Party Time: Obama, Rubio
Photos via Flicker: Joe Crimmings, Ron Reiring, Pete Zarria, Gage Skidmore, Gif via Giphy
Bonnie Watson Coleman, a Democratic state assemblywoman from NJ with congressional aspirations, is breaking out the big guns for her Thursday night fundraiser: Bill "The Money Magnet" Clinton. Bill's been popping up all over the country to stump for Dems running in the 2014 midterm elections — and tonight's no different. Check the invite below, where prices go up to $2,600 for a photo with the Big Dog.
Hillary's Monday: Help Dems raise $3.5M, hang with Eva Longoria
There's that GIF again.
Remember that HRC California fundraiser we reported earlier this week? Turned out to be pretty lucrative: Buzzfeed reports Hillary helped the DCCC raise $1.4 million that afternoon. NBD.
But she didn't stop there: The same report notes Clinton set a fundraising record for Senate Democrats later that afternoon. Her attendance helped bring out Hollywood stars Eva Longora and Cameron Diaz — and raise a full $2.1 million.
See the fundraiser invites via Party Time | GIF still via Giphy
