Democrats Can't Find Cash for Convention

$15M short, Denver fundraisers hawking political access
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted May 28, 2008 10:41 AM CDT
Democrats Can't Find Cash for Convention
Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean talks about next years Democratic convention, accompanied by Leah Daughtry, convention chairman, during a walk-through of Denver's Pepsi Center, Nov. 13, 2007.    (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

Democrats aren’t just wringing their hands over who they’ll nominate at their national convention—they’re also wondering who's going to pick up the tab. The Denver host committee has raised just $25 million of the $40.6 million it needs by June 16, the New York Times reports, which has Dems scrambling to find donors—or scale back plans.

“We will raise the money,” vowed a host committee spokesman. “We can’t make any excuses.” But excuses abound—most notably that the long primary race is sapping donations. The Republicans, by contrast, have already raised 80% of their $39 million goal. To make up the ground, the host committee is aggressively courting corporate sponsorships, offering access to key politicians in return. (More Democratic National Convention stories.)

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