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Whatta boss that Harry Reid is -- al ways looking out for the welfare of his members and staff. Seems the Senate majority leader asked Republicans to forego a scheduled debate so that everyone could stay home until Monday. "I see no reason to punish everybody this weekend," he said. A real standup guy, that Harry Reid -- notwithstanding the fact that, days earlier, he was quite emphatic on the need to work through the weekend. "Fourteen thousand people lose their health insurance every day in America," he said. "The American people don't get weekends off from this injustice." Why...

Former U.S. vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin is coming to Hamilton, Ont. Palin is making an appearance in April to help raise funds for the Juravinski Cancer Centre and St. Peter¹s Hospital. Gabe Macaluso, former CEO of Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, is a member of the committee organizing the visit and will release more details about the visit soon. Palin, who reportedly makes $20,000 for speaking engagements, is on tour in the U.S. promoting her new book, Going Rogue. It will be Palin¹s first visit to Canada since losing the 2008 election.

The controversial New Orleans fundraiser for Majority Leader Harry Reid is being called off as the Senate is expected to remain in session over the weekend to deal with the healthcare bill, according to an official with his campaign. Reid had been scheduled to attend a Saturday brunch co-hosted by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Democratic consultant James Carville at the New Orleans home of investor David Voelker. But Republicans were mocking the majority leader ahead of his planned absence from the Capitol. "Republicans are prepared to provide a platform for the debate as long as it takes," FoxNews.com quoted...

Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid says Republicans are trying to "embarrass or denigrate" him over attending a fundraiser.

Al Gore apparently has canceled a high-priced speaking engagement during the upcoming climate change conference in Copenhagen. As NewsBusters reported Tuesday, the Nobel Laureate was slated to lecture about his new book "Our Choice" where attendees could pay over $1,200 a ticket for the right to meet the Global Warmingist-in-Chief and have their picture taken with him. According to Danish newspaper Berlingske, this has been canceled due to "unforeseen changes" to Gore's schedule (rough translation follows, h/t Marc Morano):

KENNEWICK -- Thousands of people from across the Tri-Cites and the country were in Kennewick for the annual Turkey Trot to benefit the Benton-Franklin Red Cross. The appearance of Sarah Palin overshadowed the whole event, as hundreds of people tried to get an up close view of the former Alaskan Governor.

A Democratic Party-sponsored "national innovation conference" to examine key policy and technology issues at Google's headquarters beginning today has critics charging that the $5,000-and-up ticket prices limit access to the event to Silicon Valley high rollers and raise the specter of "pay to play" politics. Consumer Watchdog in Santa Monica likened the event to Republicans holding an energy conference at an oil company headquarters. The consumer rights group urged California Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein and four other senators to boycott the fundraiser sponsored by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Eric Schultz, communications director for the campaign committee, defended...

RICHMOND, Va. - With his state under an emergency declaration because of heavy rain and floods Thursday, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine was in Arkansas for a Democratic fundraiser. Kaine is chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He appeared Thursday with Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe at a closed $250-per-ticket luncheon at a home in Little Rock. -snip-

Just 11 months ago, Hassan Nemazee ranked as one of the Democratic Party's premier money men -- hosting a $28,500-a-head fundraiser in his luxurious home on New York's Upper East Side for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. On Wednesday, Nemazee returned to the same $20 million Park Avenue apartment under house arrest, charged with lying about his assets in order to secure a $74 million loan from Citibank. He is required to wear an electronic security bracelet to ensure that he doesn't leave the building.

Friend -- Remember all those socialist-hollering, Glenn Beck-worshiping, tea party wing nuts from this summer's town hall meetings? If Sarah Palin gets her way, one of them could soon be a member of Congress. Next week marks one year since President Obama was elected. The amount of money we have in the bank will be used as an instant referendum on his first year. With Sarah Palin out there raising hundreds of thousands of dollars to stack Congress with those tea party lunatics, the media is watching to see how Grassroots Democrats respond. Help us raise $500,000 in response to...

2012 peek at Pawlenty's PAC fundraiserJonathan Martin – Fri Oct 23, 12:26 am ET Hundreds of mostly young Republicans gathered Thursday night at a Washington brewpub to lend their support to, size up or just catch a glimpse of Minnesota Gov. and 2012 prospect Tim Pawlenty. Over beers and pretzels, the committed and the curious saw what amounted to an informal debut in the capital for the potential presidential candidate. The fundraiser was ostensibly to support the PAC Pawlenty opened earlier this month, yet for the after-work crowd of Republicans strolling around the terrace of the Capital City Brewing Company...

Last night in Boston, President Obama faced a half-empty hotel ballroom at a fundraiser for his pal, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, who is unpopular and facing a difficult re-election campaign. Instead of confidence, he actually expressed doubt: "There really should be no doubt that this guy gets a second term. But let's be honest. This is going to be a tough race ... " Jules Crittenden has a hilarious blog post on the dismal portents for Obama and Patrick, titled "Maybe we can't," delving into the event and the press reaction. A sample: Boston Globe helpfully plays down and buries five long graphs...

Here is video of CNBC's John Harwood commenting about how he is "struck by how sensitive" the White House is about the $15,000 a plate DNC Fundraiser Obama will attend at the Mandarin Hotel in New York City tonight. This is the 22nd fundraiser attended by Obama since becoming President, while Bush had attended six at this point in his Presidency. Even the MSNBC panel said "the optics" of this don't look good. . . . (VIDEO)

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) ― Gov. Bobby Jindal was scheduled to spend a night in New Jersey and attend a fundraiser for Chris Christie, a fellow Republican who's running for governor there, Jindal's press office said Monday. Jindal was scheduled to travel to Warren, N.J., near New York, on Monday, spokesman Kyle Plotkin said. Jindal would return to Baton Rouge on Tuesday, he said. Christie, a former federal prosecutor, is running against Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine.

MIAMI BEACH - Barack Obama is coming to Miami Beach in a fundraising event on Oct. 26. The event at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach will start at 5 p.m. and will include a V.I.P. dinner. The event is paid for by the House Senate Victory Fund, according to the Democratic Party in Miami-Dade County. Costs start at $500 per person.

Barack Obama flew into San Francisco last night for a fundraiser after spending 4 hours in New Orleans. He didn't expect this-- Hundreds of tea party protesters greeted the president at the St. Francis Hotel. The City Square has a report from San Francisco with several photos.

Former Vice President Al Gore will be coming to Virginia on Friday to give a last-minute boost to the Democratic candidate for governor, Creigh Deeds, a party source said. Gore will headline a private fundraiser in McLean at the home of longtime Democratic supporters Al and Claire Dwoskin. The visit will provide positive publicity for Deeds in the days before the Nov. 3 election, when Deeds will face Bob McDonnell, the Republican nominee.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist will head to Las Vegas at the end of the month for a well-backed, high-priced fundraiser with perhaps the Republican Party's wealthiest donor. Crist will benefit from a fundraiser at the Palazzo Hotel and Casino, one of the newest casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, on Oct. 29. His host, Las Vegas Sands Corp. CEO Sheldon Adelson, is the 26th-richest man in America, according to Forbes magazine. Adelson funded the conservative group Freedom's Watch during the 2008 campaign, spending millions of dollars to attack then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Democratic candidates up and down the ballot....

The decision by Herndon's mayor and several Town Council members to protest a Democratic fundraiser last month and a fiery community meeting that followed have ignited a free-speech debate and opened old wounds about the town's tough anti-illegal immigration policies. The hubbub started Sept. 16 in downtown Herndon...Mayor Stephen J. DeBenedettis and council members Dennis D. Husch, William B. Tirrell Sr. and Charlie D. Waddell, Republicans, joined a handful of sign-holding protesters outside a fundraiser where Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) was speaking... Republicans used it as a chance to hold a "tea party" to protest policies of President...

During my life, I have learned God answers prayers in a number of ways. He can either say yes, no, not now or not your way. The Lord answered my prayers and those of many others regarding IFI's Fall Banquet. The event was an overwhelming success and I give praise to the Lord and thanks to those who supported IFI by attending the fundraiser featuring Governor Mike Huckabee last Tuesday in Rosemont, Illinois. Well over 800 good folks attended the dinner, including...

Fellow freepers, join me for this event to raise money for the Family Foundation, our top pro-family organization in the state. This group is a family policy council for Virginia and is associated with Focus on the Family. The speaker will be Governor Mike Huckabee. Below is the link to sign up. Funds raised will help the Family Foundation in their important upcoming fight for the family during the 2010 Virginia General Assembly.

Planned Parenthood of New York chose the Museum of Sex for the second year in a row as the venue for its annual “Summer, Sex and Spirits” fundraiser. In July, the Planned Parenthood affiliate held a “party/benefit” at the museum, which featured exhibits at the time of the event such as “Sex Life of Robots,” “Sex Machines,” and a photo display documenting the “Oscars of Porn.”

NEW YORK – Former Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu was sentenced to more than 24 years in prison Tuesday by a judge who accused him of funding his fraud by manipulating the political process in a way that "strikes at the very core of our democracy." U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero sentenced the 58-year-old Hsu to 20 years in prison for his guilty plea to fraud charges and another four years and four months in prison for his conviction at trial for breaking campaign finance laws. In a lengthy criticism of Hsu's fraud, the judge said the former fundraiser used political...

GREENVILLE S.C. -- A candidate for South Carolina’s Adjutant General found a high-powered way to appeal to supporters over the weekend. Dean Allen held a drawing for an AK-47 at a fundraiser in Greenville on Saturday. The event, called a “Machine Gun Social,” was held at Allen Arms Indoor Range on Poinsett Highway. For $25, donors were given a barbeque lunch and twenty shots with a machine gun. A free drawing determined the winner of the semi-automatic AK-47, valued at $700.

Vice President Joe Biden did not need Air Force Two Thursday night to travel across the Potomac River to McLean, Va., to the home of former Democratic Virginia Gov. and Sen. Chuck Robb. It was, of course, a fundraiser, designed to help finance three freshman Democratic House candidates -- Glenn Nye, Gerry Connolly and Tom Perriello -- in their challenging reelection races 13 months from now in what once was a predictably GOP state. Robb himself did not speak at the event. His wife, Lynda, daughter of President Lyndon B. Johnson, introduced the trio of representatives. But it looks like...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hassan Nemazee, a fund-raiser for Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and other Democrats, has been indicted for defrauding Bank of America, HSBC and Citigroup Inc out of more than $290 million in loan proceeds, U.S. prosecutors said on Monday. The announcement follows last month's indictment of Nemazee, head of a private equity firm and an Iranian American Political Action Committee board member, on one count of defrauding Citigroup's Citibank.

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- New York businessman and prominent Democratic fund- raiser Hassan Nemazee was indicted Monday for allegedly defrauding three banks out of $292 million in loans. Nemazee, 59 years old, was charged with aggravated identity theft and three counts of bank fraud in the indictment. Each bank fraud count carries a term of up to 30 years in prison. A lawyer for Nemazee didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Nemazee, who was involved in various presidential campaigns and once served as finance chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, was initially charged criminally in August related...

House Votes to Discipline Wilson for Outburst The House of Representatives, on the heels of an impassioned and lively debate, voted Tuesday to formally admonish Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., for accusing the president of lying during a joint session of Congress a week ago. The vote was 240-179. Five lawmakers voted "present." Ahead of the tally, lawmakers hurled an arsenal of accusations at each other over the issue, with Republicans calling the effort a "partisan stunt" and Democrats stepping up their condemnation of Wilson's original offense. The decision to punish him on the floor of the House was made even...

Remember when Nancy Pelosi called private health insurers “villains” and “almost immoral” two months ago? Well, never mind, eh, Nancy? The Open Left blog reports exclusively that Pelosi will attend a fund-raiser next week hosted by villainous Steve Elmendorf, a registered lobbyist with almost immoral private health insurer, United Health. He’s throwing the party at his house on Sept. 24. Price of admission? $5,000 for PACs and $2,400 for individuals.

OBAMA HEADLINES SPECTER FUNDRAISER (September 15) The Daily News reports that President Obama and Governor Rendell will headline an Arlen Specter fundraiser. The goal—raise $2.5 million. Join the Independence Hall Tea Party Association in a rally against the policies of Obama, Rendell, and Specter. When: Tuesday, September 15, 4 PM ‘til? Where: We will be gathering at 12th & Arch, Pennsylvania Convention Center Please check our website independencehalltpa.com for possible updates! : ) We have had a number of calls from the media, including TV stations. Let's get lots of people to this event and show them we mean business!...

Liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org is jumping on the Rob Miller fundraising bandwagon, 36 hours after Miller's 2010 opponent, Rep. Joe Wilson, yelled "You lie!" at President Obama. Miller, a Democrat working on a rematch, has raised more than $750,000 since then, and MoveOn.org sent an e-mail to supporters Friday asking them to help put the challenger campaign over the $1 million mark. A spokesman for Wilson says he's had a post-ouburst fundraising boost as well, that has topped $700,000. Wilson posted a video on his campaign Web site, where he also describes himself as sorry only up to a point:...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the first time yesterday suggested she may be backing off her support of the public option.

Friday, September 11, 2009 VP Biden hits town for VIP fundraiser It will be at least a few more weeks before President Obama makes his first post-election visit to San Francisco, but Vice President Joe Biden will be in town this weekend on a fundraising mission for U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer. Biden is slated to join Boxer and fellow Democrats at back-to-back events on Saturday: a $500-a-head cocktail affair at the Fairmont, followed by a $5,000-a-head dinner at the home of Lydia and Doug Shorenstein. With ex-Hewlett Packard CEO and Republican Carly Fiorina is revving up to challenge Boxer, you...

His opponent is a guy named Rob Miller, and the nutroots KOS'rs are going bananas sending him cash... This is the ACTBLUE page they are sending the money through. http://www.actblue.com/directory/SC/all/fed-house What makes this even worse is that Joe Wilson WAS CORRECT. Even though the bill SAYS it will not provide funds for Illegal Aliens, SCOTUS has already ruled that excluding illegal aliens from government Healthcare Programs is ILLEGAL SEE: http://www.bu.edu/law/central/jd/organizations/journals/pilj/vol17no2/documents/17-2CheslerNote.pdf They put it in the Bill for COVER, KNOWING that SCOTUS would strike that part of it!!!

IFI Media Watch A little more than a year ago, most Americans would have thought the name "Huckabee" was a punch line to a joke. That's not the case any longer. Today, the former Arkansas Governor, Mike Huckabee, is one of the most popular personalities on television and radio. Huckabee, who will be the featured speaker at IFI's "Family, Faith and Freedom Banquet" www.illinoisfamily.org/huckabee, nearly pulled off the biggest political upset in our nation's history when he seemed to come out of nowhere with his second place finish in the Republican Party's presidential primary in 2008. In a time when...

London (AHN) - A British playboy who once hosted a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton at his Florida home has been convicted in the 2000 murder of a caretaker who stood in the way of a multi-million property deal. Thanos Papalexis, 37, was found guilty of murdering Charalambos Christodoulides at a warehouse in northwest London in March 2000. The jury failed to reach verdicts on two Albanian men, Ylli Xhelo and Robert Baxhija, who also had been charged in the murder, Christodoulides, 55, was a caretaker at the warehouse, where he lived in an apartment. Prosecutors alleged that Papalexis killed the...

A fund-raiser for Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and other Democrats who was charged last week with defrauding Citigroup also defrauded other banks, U.S. prosecutors said. The allegations against fund-raiser Hassan Nemazee—arrested last week on a bank fraud charge and released on $25 million bail—were not formal charges but were in a letter dated Tuesday from prosecutors to a Manhattan federal court magistrate judge handling the case. Nemazee, 59, head of a private equity firm, was accused on Aug. 25 of one count of bank fraud for seeking a fraudulent $74 million loan from Citigroup's banking unit. He said after his...

Radio Host Howie Carr today revealed that Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick is holding a fundraiser on Cape Cod today at the residence of the Red Cross CEO today. Gov. Patrick will be speaking at Sen. Kennedy's "time" tonight.

What was supposed to be a swanky Summit Avenue fundraiser for Sen. Al Franken on Thursday was abruptly canceled when Franken discovered that the host of the event served a year in prison for swindling some northern Minnesotans. Mark Erjavec, who describes himself as an entrepreneur specializing in distressed real estate, may be a newcomer to the political scene but he is well known in the courtroom. Besides the 1997 theft by swindle conviction, the 33-year-old Erjavec has faced over $100,000 in tax liens and civil judgments. General Electric sued him for copyright infringement. His personal website has a link...

Syracuse, N.Y. (AP) - Vice President Joe Biden plans to visit Syracuse next month to attend a private fundraiser for Democratic Rep. Dan Maffei.

President Clinton reacts to applause as he finishes speaking to potential donors and Democratic National Committee members at a dinner in 1997 at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington. Hassan Nemazee, right, a lead Democratic fundraiser, was arrested on charges he fraudulently requested a loan from Citigroup. (AP Photo/Ruth Fremson)Hassan Nemazee, chairman of Nemazee Capital Corp. and a fundraiser for President Obama and Hillary Clinton, was arrested on charges that he tricked Citigroup Inc. into lending him as much as $74 million using phony documents. Nemazee got the loan by telling Citibank that he held accounts with hundreds of millions of...

NEW YORK, Aug 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. attorney in New York on Tuesday charged a New York investor and major Democratic fund-raiser with a $74 million scheme to defraud Citigroup Inc (C.N). Hassan Nemazee, 59, was charged with one count of bank fraud, and faces up to 30 years in prison plus a fine. His lawyer Marc Mukasey, a former federal prosecutor, did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Nemazee was a national finance chair of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, and a supporter of John Kerry's run for the White House in 2004....

An Islamist preacher has been banned from addressing a major British fundraising event amid claims he backs attacks on UK troops and supports terrorist organisations linked to Al Qaeda. The revelation that Anwar al-Awlaki, a Yemen-based preacher accused of advocating violent jihad, was due to speak via video link at Kensington town hall later this month, has raised fears public buildings are being used for extremism. A spokesman for Kensington and Chelsea council said: "Some of the views expressed by Mr al-Awlaki in the past are not appropriate for broadcast in [council] premises." The council banned al-Awlaki from speaking only...

In San Jose, California, hundreds of protesters filled the sidewalks outside of the of the Barnes and Noble Bookstore. This is where Senator Barbara Boxer will hold a book signing/fee-based “non-townhall” meeting event. Custom made signs littered the crowd as an American Flag was carried up and down the sidewalk. Cars where constantly honking their horns in support the protesting against the Obama Democrat Healthcare Initiative.

Joe Biden knows who wears the pants in the White House — and apparently it isn't him. The vice president was joking about the former administration during a fundraising dinner Wednesday in Florida, when he responded to a suggestion that President Bush leaned heavily on Vice President Cheney for guidance. That's not how the Obama administration works, Biden reportedly told about 150 political donors at the Orlando event. "He's the president, I'm the vice president. We've got the pecking order in this administration right," Biden said. "I know George Bush, and he's no Barack Obama." Biden, known for his often...

Sen. Arlen Specter (D) will welcome President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden to Pennsylvania in the coming months as he looks to build his financial lead in his race for reelection. The president will attend a Sept. 15 fundraiser for Specter at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, while the vice president will join the new Democrat for an event in Western Pennsylvania later this fall. Fundraisers for Specter's campaign hope to raise $2.5 million during the event in Philadelphia, according to an e-mail invitation obtained by the Philadelphia Daily News. The event has already raised $600,000, and...

The Peter Schiff Exploratory Committee for the U.S. Senate Republican primary in the State of Connecticut has successfully raised over $800,000 in just one month since it began soliciting donations. Over $300,000 of these donations were made since Friday after some of Peter's supporters organized a 'moneybomb.' This compares to the $753,000 raised by the Republican frontrunner Rob Simmons from April through June. It is our belief that Rob Simmons would've voted with Chris Dodd in favor of the government's stimulus plans and bailouts, which have gotten our country trillions of dollars deeper into debt. It seems as though the...

//Update: Paypal is owned by eBay. Their PR department is at (408) 376-7458. Please be polite. This is turning into a big PR mess for them, and a couple thousand voice messages suggesting that, while we don’t think they hate wounded soldiers, we’d love it if they could, you know, confirm that.// No Good Deed Goes Unpunished From Kevin @ The smallest minority OK, I'm livid. As most of you know, the fourth annual Gun Blogger's Rendezvous is fast approaching (43 days away as I write this), and this year I planned to make a special contribution to support Project...

A fired up President Obama said Thursday that he wants his critics to just "get out of the way" so his administration can clean up the economic "mess" that Republicans left for him. Obama spoke Thursday night at a rally in Virginia for state Sen. Creigh Deeds, the Democratic candidate for governor. He used the bulk of his pep talk to dress down critics who say his economic stimulus is not working and who complain about his administration's spending. Obama noted that he was handed a deficit topping $1 trillion when he walked into office, and urged the "naysayers" to...

Peter Schiff, the libertarian economist and investor who’s launched a dark-horse bid for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), is raking in cash from a Ron Paul-endorsed, 2007-style “moneybomb.” As of 3:30, Schiff supporters had raised more than $100,000 today for the candidate at Schiffathon.com, giving him more than $550,000 in campaign cash since entering the race in mid-July with the aim of raking in $750,000 by day’s end. By comparison, former Rep. Rob Simmons (R-Conn.), the front-runner for the GOP nomination, raised $753,000 from April through June.