DeeDee CORRELL Los Angeles Times | Posted: Sunday, March 23, 2008 12:00 am
DENVER - The long and winding fight for the Democratic presidential nomination is giving a fundraising migraine to the Mile High City.
As the host city, Denver must raise $40.6 million by June 16 for the party's Aug. 25-28 convention. Last week, the host committee missed its second fundraising deadline, and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper said he believed the drawn-out battle between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama had distracted potential donors.
"I think there's still so much focus around who the candidate will be that it is hard for people" to focus on the convention, he said.
If the Democrats already had a nominee, "everybody would be focusing on, `How can we make it a great convention?' " he said.
Denver's host committee fell $5 million short of its goal to raise $28 million by March 17. Host committee officials declined to comment but said in a written statement that they have commitments for $28 million.
"Our strategy is to raise as much money in the months leading up the convention as we can. That's the fiscally prudent thing to do, and we're making our donors aware that we need their financial support now," host committee spokesman Chris Lopez said in a statement. "Our team is working aggressively to meet all of our goals."
Democratic National Committee officials declined to comment on the host committee's missed deadline, one of four set by the national party. The Denver host committee missed its first $7.5 million goal by more than $1 million in June but met a December deadline with $15 million.
It's not uncommon for host cities to struggle to raise the money, veteran Democratic strategist Bill Carrick said.
In 2004, Boston, the host city for the Democratic convention, struggled with fundraising until several weeks before the election, when donations totaling $12 million poured in.
"You just see the scrambling every time," Carrick said. "It's probably exacerbated by the fact there's so much turmoil. … I see the mayor's point of view. They don't have the nominee; they don't have the focus."
Corporate sponsors "don't like confusion in politics. They want to wait and see how it comes out before they open their checkbooks," Carrick said.
However, if it becomes clear that Obama and Clinton will take their fight to the convention, then that might work in Denver's favor. "If it's clear there's going to be a contested convention, there might be a looky-loo impact," Carrick said. "Everyone wants to be there to see what happens. We're not to that point yet."
The parties' financial deadlines typically are difficult to meet, he added.
Nor does the convention have the active support of the presumptive nominee, said Jennifer Duffy, senior editor of the Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan publication.
"Right now, neither Clinton nor Obama have the time to help them raise money," she said.
The state of the economy doesn't help, she added.