Host committees do not have to disclose their donors until well after the convention. But party insiders are crediting Johnson with helping to close the gap to within just a few million dollars of the $56.9 million needed to fund the Republican National Convention, which begins Sept. 1.
Johnson could not be reached for comment. But spokeswoman Christyne Nicholas said Johnson "has full confidence that he will be able to close the gap." She said he was called in as national chair at last minute because of his reputation as "the Brett Favre of political fundraising," a reference to the star NFL quarterback.
Steve Weissman, a reform advocate with the Campaign Finance Institute, cites the involvement of people like Johnson, and similar fundraising stars tapped by Democrats, as proof that McCain and Obama are in effect collecting large corporate "soft money" checks to be used indirectly on their behalf.
"By law, the presidential candidates themselves cannot receive unlimited corporate contributions," Weissman said. "But those who are fundraising for them can receive those contributions. . . . and apply it to the biggest advertisement of the presidential campaign, the nominating convention."
The Democrats' convention finance problems, more severe and more familiar than the GOP's, have been evident for months.
Unlike their Twin Cities counterpart, the Democrats in Denver had failed to meet publicly set fundraising benchmarks. And Denver's woes continue as the party struggles to cover the costs of a speech Obama will give at an outdoor stadium on the convention's final night.
Sources familiar with Republican convention financing said a problem of that magnitude hadn't hit the GOP since 1996. Back then, convention planners in San Diego scrambled to raise $3 million to $5 million -- in the six weeks before former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole received the nomination.
Larson, the Twin Cities host committee chair, acknowledges that fundraising has been difficult but says his committee has met all of its fundraising obligations and targets. And he says that neither the Twin Cities, nor the state of Minnesota, will have to spend tax dollars to support the budget of an event expected to bring in tens of millions of tourist dollars.
The last time the Republican elite gathered in Minnesota was in 1892, when the state was solidly in the GOP column.
