Denver Achieves $40 Million Fundraising Goal for Convention

By Jeralyn, Section Democratic National Convention 2008
Posted on Wed Aug 20, 2008 at 12:31:37 PM EST
Tags: Democratic National Convention (all tags)

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It took a while, and the Denver Host Committee missed a deadline, but all is well now. Denver has achieved its $40.6 million convention fundraising goal. And money is still coming in.

Congrats to Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and DNC Host Committee co-chair, attorney Steve Farber.

Hickenlooper has spent dozens of nights and weekends and crisscrossed the country seeking donors. To a lesser extent, Gov. Bill Ritter and Sen. Ken Salazar also have been seeking donors.

Meanwhile, Denver fundraising giant, lobbyist and attorney Steve Farber had staked his reputation on getting the bills paid, reaching out to contacts near and far.

The additional funds necessary for the Invesco Field event where Sen. Obama will make his acceptance speech will be completed Friday. On a related note, billionaire New York Republican Tom Golisano donated $1 million last week to the Committee.

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Denver Achieves $40 Million Fundraising Goal for Convention | 22 comments (22 topical)

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The GOP is financing our party? (5.00 / 2) (#3)
by myiq2xu on Wed Aug 20, 2008 at 12:38:36 PM EST

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to.

he made the donation individually (3.33 / 3) (#4)
by Jeralyn on Wed Aug 20, 2008 at 12:41:46 PM EST

not in the name of the GOP. Read the article, he's impressed with Obama.

Gratuitous insults to Obama will be deleted. As the convention gets closer, I'll be banning repeat offenders. There are other sites you can go to express your displeasure.


I read the article, and I'm not impressed (5.00 / 2) (#8)
by myiq2xu on Wed Aug 20, 2008 at 12:48:57 PM EST

I didn't say anything about Obama.

BTW - He's not the nominee yet.


Jeralyn, thank you. (5.00 / 2) (#9)
by steviez314 on Wed Aug 20, 2008 at 12:51:19 PM EST

I've almost started to play a game here, trying to guess how many comments it would take on a blog entry, before, whatever the blog's topic is, we end up with some Hillary vs Obama commentary.

So far, I peg the under/over on most subjects at 8 comments.

I couldn't imagine how convention financing would also devolve into the usual HvO and I'm glad to see it won't.


It's not about Hillary (5.00 / 5) (#10)
by myiq2xu on Wed Aug 20, 2008 at 12:53:30 PM EST

It's about the Democratic party and whose interests it represents.


: Sorry (5.00 / 1) (#15)
by steviez314 on Wed Aug 20, 2008 at 01:02:19 PM EST

I was not even refering to your post, just getting ready for some new ones down the road that always seems to explicitly get into the primaries battle again.

A coronation? (5.00 / 0) (#11)
by BarnBabe on Wed Aug 20, 2008 at 12:59:13 PM EST

The article called it that as snark I assume. It certainly is not a complement. BTW, that is $19607 per person for 51 tickets and a skybox.

OT, I hope Stephanie Tubbs Jones will be alright after suffering an aneurysm while driving in DC. She was a wonderful and loyal Hillary supporter.


Now GOP, Before Independence Party (none / 0) (#39)
by daring grace on Wed Aug 20, 2008 at 04:23:16 PM EST

I think he registered Republican in the last gubernatorial election because he was pondering a run against Spitzer--then didn't.

So now they call him Republican.

But he is more seriously associated with the Independence Party and his views I think could be described as libertarian with a strong business affection.


Indeed... (5.00 / 5) (#5)
by MileHi Hawkeye on Wed Aug 20, 2008 at 12:42:42 PM EST

...congrats to our "politically inexperienced" mayor! Go Hick.

I guess the people of Denver shouldn't have taken a chance on him because he hd such a meager resume and ran a campaign based on change. Oh well, I guess we'll just have to live with him.

: Yeah, because being mayor of Denver (none / 0) (#37)
by sj on Wed Aug 20, 2008 at 03:06:45 PM EST

is just like being POTUS.
But now that you mention it, I would happily vote for BO for mayor of Denver. That is, when Hick is term limited out.

Good for them (5.00 / 0) (#7)
by blogtopus on Wed Aug 20, 2008 at 12:48:34 PM EST

I'm glad our Party doesn't look TOO incompetent. :-P

Is there a budgetary breakdown online somewhere? I'm curious where all that money is going... how much of the security center is Denver paying for?

Congratulations, Denver! (5.00 / 1) (#13)
by stxabuela on Wed Aug 20, 2008 at 01:00:03 PM EST

I hope the convention brings an economic boost to the area--and I also hope all of you living in the area are not too inconvenienced by the extra traffic, etc.

: Boston's experience was Not Good. (none / 0) (#35)
by Mike H on Wed Aug 20, 2008 at 01:54:30 PM EST

Turned out that so many natives AND tourists were warned about the convention (traffic! crowds! security problems!) that they avoided the city in droves. Even commuters who worked in Boston planned their vacations for that week so as not to go into work.
The convention attendees didn't go out enough to local restaurants and shops to make up the difference of the missing tourists, residents, and commuters.
Boston was like a ghost town. Merchants were extremely disappointed.

I find it (5.00 / 1) (#19)
by Andy08 on Wed Aug 20, 2008 at 01:07:24 PM EST

somehwat gross the amount of money being spent on a convention..... Not to speak about the added expense of Invesco Field; for what purpose? Pepsi Center wasn't big enough for Obama?

So much for Money's influence in Government....
New Politics? Yeah, right.

Thankfully it was moved to Invesco (5.00 / 2) (#22)
by trublueCO on Wed Aug 20, 2008 at 01:13:44 PM EST

Otherwise, I would only have had the chance to watch the acceptance speech on tv.

Now, tens of thousands of ordinary people will have the chance to participate. That is never a bad thing!


: Not to mention... (5.00 / 1) (#28)
by MileHi Hawkeye on Wed Aug 20, 2008 at 01:24:18 PM EST

...as the DP article states, the move to Invesco allowed them to hit the fundraising goals.

Maybe, but it is money being infused into (5.00 / 1) (#23)
by JavaCityPal on Wed Aug 20, 2008 at 01:14:33 PM EST

the economy, so I believe it is well spent.


But should they have been inundated (4.00 / 2) (#26)
by PssttCmere08 on Wed Aug 20, 2008 at 01:19:08 PM EST

with extra expenses to make it even harder? That's what I don't like and I think it is wrong imo.


: Maybe, I don't honestly know enough (none / 0) (#29)
by JavaCityPal on Wed Aug 20, 2008 at 01:24:27 PM EST

about the budget and where they spent the money.

Speaking of which... (5.00 / 1) (#32)
by echinopsia on Wed Aug 20, 2008 at 01:29:54 PM EST

Dem supporters asked to buy Obama speech tickets

Two known Democratic supporters are outraged at their own party after being solicited to buy tickets to Barack Obama's acceptance speech at Invesco Field next Thursday, CBS4 reports. The seats were distributed for free to the general public.
One source directed CBS4 to an unpublicized part of the Obama campaign's Web site where Democratic supporters, reportedly with deep pockets, could buy tickets for $1,000 each. The source told CBS4 he was solicited three times to buy the tickets through the Web site.
One source said it was unethical and being kept secret from the public.