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Tag Archive: DNC

Political Party Time takeover: Sunlight at the 2016 Democratic National Convention

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Sunlight's Melissa Yeager, Libby Watson and Louis Serino crash the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia! Stay tuned to our blog as they'll be live-tweeting, snapping photos, shooting videos and bringing you the latest news — all with a focus on money in politics, influence and more. We'll be compiling the most interesting missives from the DNC.

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Surprise! Corporations funded Democrats’ convention

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Though the party conventions are long over, the special interests that paid for them were only revealed to the public yesterday. It’s not a surprise that, despite a self-imposed ban on corporate cash to fund their Charlotte convention, the Democrats relied on plenty of it.

For their bash in Tampa, Republicans brought in donations from super PAC donors, an oil industry trade group that's running its own political ads, and some of the same corporate donors who underwrote the Democrats' convention.

MORE: See the largest donors to the Democratic and Republican host committees below

The Charlotte host committee ...

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Texas-sized lobbyist bundler shuns Democrats’ super PACs

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Democratic super PACs and other outside political groups will be deprived of the party's most generous 2010 bankroller this election: Donor and bundler extraordinaire Ben Barnes is repudiating the outfits that don't provide full financial disclosure.

Since the 2008 election, the 74-year-old Texan has been the lobbyist who, along with his family, has given the most to Democrats  -- more than $900,000 in donations to candidates and committees, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. He has been in Charlotte all week for the Democratic convention with a few aides and was spotted busting a ...

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First lady courts LGBT donors over lunch

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- After a rousing convention speech Tuesday night that, among other things, commended LGBT Americans for their courage to marry, Michelle Obama spent about an hour Wednesday at a downtown Charlotte Marriott courting well-heeled gay donors.

According to one political consultant and LGBT activist there, she knocked it out of the park. “It was like a conversation in a living room almost,” said Palm Springs, Calif. LGBT activist and political consultant Greg Rodriguez.

That may be important, as a recent analysis showed that one in six bundlers for President Obama are gay. Another report identified 33 gay bundlers ...

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At Democratic super PACs briefing, strategists ask for more cash

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- If there were millionaires at Tuesday's happy hour for prospective donors of the three major super PACs backing congressional Democrats and President Obama, they were not the recognizable backers of the groups. And there was not much exclusive about the affair.

At the door of a cozy, downtown bar a short walk from the site of the Democratic Party’s convention, an employee checked off names of attendees on an iPad. But he did not seem to stop anyone, and so this reporter walked on through the door. 

The event was one of several being hosted ...

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