Meanwhile, federal, state and local officials are dealing with a wide range of issues important to the contributing corporations -- energy conglomerates, manufacturers, health insurers, telecommunications firms and others that have already spent millions of dollars on lobbying this year.
Talking points prepared for Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty before meeting with corporate officials in 2007 included a promise that donors to the host committee would have the opportunity to "connect with influential government officials (cabinet, president, next president)."
Pawlenty's talking points were reproduced in a report on convention fundraising by the nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute. The institute also reported that the host committee for the Democrats' convention in Denver produced a "corporate sponsorship packet" that said donors giving more than $250,000 would be invited to "private events" with Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter Jr., Sen. Ken Salazar, Rep. Diana DeGette, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and others.
An upcoming report from the Campaign Finance Institute, which could be released as soon as today, will show that the more than 100 corporations and one labor union contributing to one or both conventions have spent more than $700 million on lobbying since 2005. They have also provided almost $100 million in campaign contributions through political action committees and individuals.
What makes special-interest funding of conventions especially awkward for McCain and Obama are the high-profile positions they have taken on money in politics.
McCain was the lead author of the 2002 campaign finance legislation banning large, corporate "soft money" donations in federal races. And he has limited lobbyists' participation on his campaign staff as a way of strengthening his credentials as a reformer.
Yet the conventions are effectively funded through what campaign reformers call "the last soft money loophole," the provision that allows corporate contributions to a convention's host committee.
Obama has banned federal lobbyists from donating to his campaign or working on his official staff. Yet those lobbyists and their bosses are being asked to provide large checks for the conventions.
Convention budgets have risen dramatically in recent years; the conventions cost 14 times more than they did in 1992. With nominees normally chosen long before delegates convene, the conventions essentially have become huge -- and hugely expensive -- pep rallies for party activists and television infomercials designed to attract voters.
