A few weeks ago NPR's Planet Money team contacted us with a pretty simple inquiry: What happens at congressional fundraisers? But as their most recent podcast shows, getting to know what goes on at these events is not that simple.

Sunlight Editorial Director Bill Allison joined Planet Money reporter Alex Blumberg checking out a few fundraisers happening on a busy night in Washington, DC. Party Time indicated there were at least 20 events scheduled but gaining access was more challenging than a night club's velvet rope.

Why the secrecy and closed doors? Listen to the podcast to learn more.

And check out Party Time to know when and where Congress and the presidential candidates are fundraising. Say for instance tomorrow's Jay Z - Kanye West concert or a weekend retreat with the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Have any invites to share? Send us an anonymous tip.

This is a cross-post with Political Party Time

There are some pre-State of the Union fundraisers happening on the Hill tonight.

The docket of events could start with a stiff drink alongside Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wisc. He will be attending “Martinis and Mayhem” at 5 p.m. at the Capitol Hill Club, his office confirmed. The shindig attempts to raise up to $1,000 per supporter for his campaign, according to the invitation.

At 6:30 p.m., two of Rep. Joe Barton’s, R-Texas, former top aides-turned influential lobbyists will be hosting a $1,500-per-PAC dinner at the townhouse of lobbyist Rick Murphy. One former aide, Bud Albright, was the staff director of the Energy and Commerce Committee while Barton was the chair. He recently became the man responsible for implementing CenterPoint Energy’s legislative agenda. The other lobbyist is Jeff MacKinnon, Barton’s former legislative director who has many telecom and energy clients.

Also hosting is health care lobbyist Jeff Kimbell, a former member of President George W. Bush’s Department of Health and Human Services transition team advisory committee.

Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, a freshman and former outsider candidate who won the 2010 election with Tea Party support, will be eating dinner at a Trattoria Alberto fundraiser on the Hill at 6 p.m. The ask is $500 for individual donations and $1,000 for PAC donations.

Meanwhile, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., who is giving the Republican response to Obama’s speech, was supposed to hold a leadership PAC fundraiser tonight in D.C. but it’s been postponed for a date to be determined, according to his fundraising consultant. The event had been scheduled before he was tapped for the speech, the consultant said.

This election season, we’ve tracked (in real time) the explosion of outside spending – now at $427 million and climbing, the D.C.-based fundraisers for candidates running on “outside the Beltway” credentials and, with your help, cataloged political ads and who pays for them using Sunlight CAM. All signs point to a record-breaking Election Day for campaign cash, so we’ll be up until the wee hours that night shining a light on the money behind the winners.

Join us Election Night from 7 p.m. – midnight(ish) as we use our award-winning "Sunlight Live" real-time, investigative platform to follow the money trail for midterm congressional seats as races are called. Our video coverage will include PBS Newshour and our own original reporting. We’ll follow the money behind the top competitive (or otherwise compelling) races, covering the campaign contributors and non-party groups—such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Crossroads GPS and America's Families First Action Fund—that "won," showing data on the huge independent expenditures made in key races this cycle.

Confused about who the real winners are this election? Make sure to tune in and send us your questions, so you can know who won the shadow race.

And if you're in DC, please come to our office for our Election Night Watch Party. RSVP on our Facebook page. You can also organize your own watch party using our Meetup page.

(Sunlight Live is generously supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.)

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is quickly becoming a serious ecological disaster. At the same time, the event has become a political hot potato as the various parties involved attempt to protect themselves from blame. British Petroleum (BP), the owners of the oil lease site where the sunken rig was drilling, is gearing up their lobbying team to present their case to congressional investigators. Thanks to their long-established connections, they may find some in Congress who are willing to listen.

The Center for Responsive Politics ranks BP as one of the top donors to political campaigns over the twenty years having given in excess of $6 million to congressional and presidential campaigns. The ten biggest recipients of BP contributions still in Congress are Rep. Don Young ($73,300), Sen. John McCain ($44,899), Sen. George Voinovich ($41,400), Rep. John Dingell ($31,000), Sen. Mary Landrieu ($28,200), Rep. Joe Barton ($27,350), Sen. Jim Inhofe ($22,300), Sen. Mitch McConnell ($22,000), Rep. John Culberson ($20,950) and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison ($19,500).

BP has focused a good portion of their campaign contributions on the House Committee on Energy & Commerce. The committee is scheduled to begin hearings on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on Wednesday. Since 1989, BP has contributed a total of $195,550 to the current 51 members of the committee. Rep. Barton is the ranking member of the committee. Rep. Dingell is chairman emeritus and was recently deposed as chairman by Rep. Henry Waxman. Other top recipients include Rep. Ralph Hall ($14,500), Rep. Fred Upton ($13,100) and Rep. Roy Blunt ($12,500).

While BP made investments in Congress with their wide reach of contributions, some lawmakers made investments in BP. At least 17 lawmakers reported holding stock in BP in their most recent personal financial disclosure filings. Rep. James Sensenbrenner holds the largest amount of stock in BP with a value between $100,001 and $250,000. One member of the Energy & Commerce Committee, Rep. Upton, also holds stock in BP valued between $16,002 and $65,000.

The lobbying team assembled by BP also provides the company with reach into both Congress and executive branch. Twenty-five of the thirty-seven lobbyists listed in 2010 first quarter lobbying disclosures as being hired by BP have previous government experience. This includes two former top aides to Sen. Landrieu, a former aide to the Energy & Commerce Committee, former congressman Jim Turner and 15 others with congressional experience.

The former Energy & Commerce Committee staffer, Courtney Johnson, was listed as the host for two fundraisers over last year, according to the Party Time database. One was for Rep. Dingell, the former Energy & Commerce chairman. The other was for the political action committee of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a lawmaker close to Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Prolific Democratic fundraiser Tony Podesta is listed as a lobbyist for BP. Podesta is listed as hosting eighteen fundraisers since the beginning of the 111th Congress.

Other congressman who have had held fundraisers hosted by lobbyists hired by BP since the beginning of 2009 include Rep. Walt Minnick, Sen. Jim Inhofe, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (twice), Rep. Barbara Lee, Sen. John Thune, Rep. Kay Granger, Sen. Richard Burr, Rep. Glenn Nye (twice) and Rep. Dennis Moore.

As the summer of the Democrats' discontent winds to a close, the head count for health care reform in the Senate begins in earnest. One of the key Democratic senators on the fence is Sen. Blanche Lincoln, a member of the Senate Finance Committee and one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the 2010 election. Lincoln jumped into the news today with a quote to a reporter stating her opposition to a public option plan in a health care reform bill. "I would not support a solely government-funded public option. We can't afford that," Lincoln said. The senior Arkansas senator is also the 2nd highest recipient of campaign contributions from the health industry among senators this year.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Lincoln has received $325,350 in contributions from the health industry, as of June 30. The large amount in contributions underlies a constantly shifting position by the senator on health care reform.

One of Lincoln's biggest contributors this cycle is the insurance giant Blue Cross Blue Shield. The company's political action committee and employees have combined to give the senator $29,500 this year alone. Blue Cross Blue Shield and their parent company Wellpoint are vocal opponents of the inclusion of a public option plan in any health care reform bill. Blue Cross Blue Shield is the dominant insurer in Arkansas holding a 75 percent market share.

Blue Cross Blue Shield does not need to only rely on campaign contributions to reach Sen. Lincoln, as they retain Lincoln's former top health care policy adviser as a lobbyist. Elizabeth Barnett worked for Lincoln from 2000 to 2007 before leaving to become the top Democratic lobbyist for Blue Cross Blue Shield. Earlier this year, Barnett left Blue Cross to work for Avenue Solutions, where she retains Blue Cross Blue Shield as a client. Avenue Solutions' profile of Barnett notes that she "had primary responsibility for representing [Blue Cross Blue Shield] and its 39 member plans before the Senate Finance Committee, Senate Democratic Leadership, and other key Senate committees and offices." Barnett also represents other health industry organizations including UnitedHealth Group, Aetna, Bravo Health, Healthcare Leadership Council, Medco and the National Health Policy Group.

Barnett is not the only former Lincoln staffer working as a lobbyist for the health industry. Lincoln's former chief of staff Kelly Bingel is a lobbyist specializing in health care at Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti Inc, the lobbying firm of Sen. Max Baucus' former chief of staff David Castagnetti. Bingel represents a who's who of the health care industry including America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and Pharmaceutical Researchers & Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). AHIP and PhRMA have been largely supportive of health care reform this year. PhRMA, in particular, has supported the current legislation with positive advertising after receiving concessions from the White House and the Senate Finance Committee. Bingel also represents the Business Roundtable, a group that has voiced opposition to health care reform.

Throughout this year, Lincoln has benefited from countless fundraisers thrown by lobbyists. The Party Time database lists one fundraiser thrown by health care lobbyists for Lincoln. On July 24, Ernst & Young feted Lincoln with a fundraiser hosted by health care lobbyists Nick Giordano (formerly of Sen. Baucus' staff), Dick Meltzer (since moved on to Speaker Pelosi's staff), LaBrenda Garrett-Nelson, Holly Bode, Francis Grab, Dave Koshgarian and Jeff Petrich. Contributions from this fundraiser will not be publicly available until the third quarter finance reports are filed.

update: post edited.

Today, we are launching a new Web site, Party Time, a project to track parties thrown at the 2008 Democratic and Republican National Conventions as well as fund raising activities by all lawmakers running for Congress that happen all year round in Washington, D.C. and beyond.

The count of parties and events we've heard about scheduled for the Democratic and Republican National Conventions is now above 400-and counting. As we noted the other week, here, these convention parties are often sponsored by corporate interests such as Citi, Eli Lilly and Qwest, as well as powerhouse lobbying firms such as Patton Boggs. They continue despite new ethics reforms intended to rein in excesses of special interest bashes for members of Congress. Many of these party hosts are also sponsors of the conventions' host committees, major donors to federal candidates and party committees and are also big spenders on federal lobbying.

So, for example:

AT&T is hosting more than a dozen parties at both conventions, most of them parties for different state delegations. The company is also underwriting both the Democratic and GOP Convention committees, and happens to be the #2 top donor to federal and candidates and parties since 1989, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. AT&T has spent more than $3 million on federal campaign contributions and lobbying combined in 2008 alone, 60% of which is directed to the GOP. It has also spent another $3.2 million on federal lobbying.

Qwest's CEO, Ed Mueller, is hosting an event at the Denver Art Museum on Monday, August 25. The company is also giving the Democratic and GOP Convention host committees a total of some $12 million in direct and in-kind contributions. Qwest has given $682,000 to federal candidates and parties so far this election cycle, and spent $1.7 million on lobbying.

A long list of financial service powerhouses are sponsoring a "financial literacy brunch" at the Democratic National Convention, including Allstate, AEGON, Bank of America, Capitol One, Charles Schwab, Edward Jones, Fidelity, Genworth, MasterCard, Mutual of Omaha, Nationwide, Principal Financial Group, State Farm, NASDAQ, US Bank, Visa, Wachovia and Wells Fargo. These companies are major campaign contributors and lobbying forces in Washington.

At Party Time, we'll be tracking these parties and events at the conventions. And we'll keep tracking parties after the conventions are over. We've already compiled information on fundraising parties for members of Congress and congressional candidates, Democrats and Republicans alike, dating back to 2006, often posting invitations before the events happen.

While invitations to these parties and events go out by the dozen to lobbyists, there is no official requirement that they be reported to the public. Sunlight collects them from sources whose anonymity is protected. Because of this, the list of parties is ever-growing as we hear about them. Since we don't hear about all the parties, you can also tell us if you know where the party is and we don't.

If you receive invitations, you can submit them anonymously to the Party Time Web site.

I never thought I'd write this in a blog post-but: party on, dude!