For GOP mega-donors, a convention of their own

Source: Politico

Forget the rah-rah speeches to the pin-swapping, confetti-covered delegates on the convention floor in Tampa.

The real action will be with the Republican mega-donors gathered in arena skyboxes, closed-door hotel ballrooms and pricey restaurants around town.

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Some of the party’s biggest names – Marco Rubio, Nikki Haley, Karl Rove, Haley Barbour and Condoleezza Rice – will deliver personalized briefings, pep talks and fundraising appeals. And no need to hang out with delegates or the media – bundlers who have committed to raising $250,000 or more for Mitt Romney’s campaign also get access to a VIP lounge and treated to special performances by Don Felder, the former lead guitarist for The Eagles, and the Oakridge Boys country band.

The pro-Romney super PAC Restore our Future, the Rove-founded Crossroads groups and the Koch brothers-linked Americans for Prosperity also have their own events feting big donors, with Americans for Prosperity planning a celebration of billionaire industrialist David Koch, one of its founding benefactors.

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Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/80074.html

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Politico calls this "a fitting celebration of the new big money politics" and adds that nowadays "there’s more incentive to butter up an emerging class of super donors."