CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- It’s hard to get the nation's 20 Democratic governors in one place. But that didn't stop party organizers from trying with a swanky, '70s-themed event here Monday night, complete with women in go-go outfits dancing on tables and an ABBA cover band at a two-story downtown club.
One wide-eyed attendee, the president of a state teacher’s union attending his first Democratic National Convention, said he didn’t expect the party to be this good.
About seven of the nation’s governors showed, according an an employee of the Democratic Governors Association (DGA), which ...
Continue readingCorporate funded nonprofit works at nexus of politics and entertainment
A corporate-funded nonprofit organization that operates out of a Washington, DC lobbying firm's offices and describes itself as working in the "nexus between the entertainment community and Washington" will be helping to host a "high-profile evening event" on Tuesday at the Democratic convention in Charlotte.
The Artists and Athletes Alliance is one of the cosponsors of an "In the Know VIP session" organized by The Hill, a newspaper that covers Congress. The session will feature political gossip columnist Judy Kurtz.
Artists and Athletes specializes in bringing athletes and entertainers together with politicians, government executives and the media. Founded in ...
Continue readingElection law? What election law?
A Republican lawyer wonders where the FEC enforcers are and a donor sneaks a reporter into a Karl Rove meeting for financiers. Are even the bankrollers getting fed up with the political big money game?
Continue readingAccess denied: Koch funded group bars Sunlight in Tampa
It was billed as a free Republican National Convention event that nonprofit group Americans for Prosperity was holding to honor two of its big funders, conservative billionaire David Koch and North Carolina businessman and political donor Art Pope. But when Sunlight tried to join the party on Thursday afternoon, the door was closed to us.
Continue readingProtesters evicted at Republican convention event
“What have I done to be kicked off the property?” retired teacher Karen Saal asked a security guard outside the Crowne Plaza Tampa Westshore Hotel. The guard's answer: the hotel manager specifically asked that she go. And she wasn't alone. Officials were also ushering peace activists off the hotel property after they interrupted a gathering of the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) honoring pro-Israel members of Congress during the Republican National Convention.
Saal, from Oregon, is against the "militarism" of Israel and the United States but said she was not protesting. She said she was just in the parking ...
Continue readingGOP convention through the eyes of Sunlight Live
If you missed Sunlight Live's coverage of the Republican National Convention in Tampa last night, you missed a lot. A Wordle cloud of most-used terms from the speeches is above; below, a synopsis of some of Sunlight's observations, data and analysis, which our Sunlight Live tool allows us to provide to you on the same computer screen where you are watching a video stream of the convention proceedings.
Be sure to tune in tonight for our coverage of the second night. A few highlights from last night, whose theme was alternately you didn't build that, we did ...
Continue readingThe three-tiered pyramid convention
(CORRECTION: This post has been updated to reflect a the correct time for today's YG Network event)
TAMPA -- The GOP convention is now in its third day, and you can divide the extravaganza three ways: The structure of this year's convention is a tripartite social pyramid.
At the tippy-top: The millionaire donors who are holding private meetings with top Republican officials and advisors to GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney advisors. It's a rarefied world into which the Huffington Post’s Peter Stone provided a small glimpse, along with a few other enterprising journalists.
The second level of ...
Continue readingArizona primaries: Mystery super PAC helps Quayle in redistricting matchup
Freshman Rep. Ben Quayle, R-Ariz., is getting help from a mysterious super PAC whose treasurer hails from the other side of the country.
Continue readingTaxpayers paying for convention observers
TAMPA -- Not everyone can afford to go to Tampa—but taxpayers are footing the bill for some executive branch officials: the members of the Federal Election Commission.
Commissioners Donald McGahn and Matthew Petersen arrived at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Tuesday, dressed down compared to their usual formal attire at FEC public meetings.
The shaggy-haired McGahn, in jeans and a polo shirt, and Petersen, sporting a neater cut and wearing khakis with a button-down shirt, hung out Tuesday afternoon at the hotel with convention passes around their necks.
Both will head to the Tampa Bay Times Forum this evening to ...
Continue readingSunlight Live covers the conventions
Republican conventioneers may have dodged Tropical Storm Isaac. Now they're facing another challenge: Sunlight at night.
Throughout this week's GOP convention in Tampa and next week's Democratic gathering in Charlotte, the Sunlight Foundation will be covering major speakers with a tool that will allow us -- and you -- to provide real-time commentary and analysis.
Starting at 7 p.m. ET, we'll open up our Sunlight Live website, where you can watch a video stream of the convention and, at the same time, read information and background about the speakers and their themes, mined from the Sunlight Foundation ...
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