Minneapolis-St. Paul doesn't have as much cash on hand

By Kevin Vaughan, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published June 17, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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For all of its fundraising challenges, the committee hosting the Democratic National Convention in Denver actually may be ahead of its counterpart in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

In the Twin Cities, site of the Republican National Convention from Sept. 1-4, the host committee reported Monday that it had raised "in excess of $31 million."

But Teresa McFarland, a spokeswoman for the Minneapolis-St. Paul host committee, said some of the contributions represent donations of "in-kind services" - things like phone lines, food, or computer equipment - rather than cash. She declined to provide details.

Denver's host committee acknowledged late Monday that it had raised $29 million - far short of the $40.6 million it was supposed to have on hand by the close of the business day.

But all of that $29 million was money in the bank, meaning Denver may actually have raised more cash than the Minneapolis-St. Paul host committee.

"It's not uncommon," said Steve Weissman of the Campaign Finance Institute, a watchdog group that opposes the role of so-called "soft money" in politics, when asked about the shortfall.

In early June 2000, then-Democratic National Committee chair Terry McAuliffe took over fundraising for that summer's convention in Los Angeles after the local group came up several million short of the $35.3 million it was supposed to collect.

Officials with Denver's host committee have repeatedly said they are ahead of where Boston was at the same point in 2004 when it hosted the DNC.

McFarland said the Minneapolis-St. Paul committee is right where it hoped to be - at 80 percent of the $39 million it is contractually obligated to raise for the convention.

Their final deadline isn't until July 15.

"I think they're confident they're going to meet the goals overall," McFarland said.

Minneapolis-St. Paul is frequently touted for being home to Fortune 500 corporations - 19 in all - that many thought would give it a fundraising edge over Denver.

But McFarland acknowledged that it has not been a picnic.

"I don't think any of our fundraisers would say it's been easy or fun, but we certainly have been drawing from the generosity of our local companies," she said.

And yet, she added, "there's more opportunity to participate - we've been stressing that, too."

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