Democrats Look to Special Interests for Convention

Democrats seem to be eyeing special interest groups for extra funding this year.

The Los Angeles Times reports that despite Barack Obama’s commitment to forbid donations from lobbyists and corporations, DNC organizers are looking for loopholes to help raise the $37 million they need for the Charlotte, N.C. convention this year.

Personal checks from executives, hotel passes, and donations through foundations are some methods the Democrats are looking at to find a way around the self-imposed limitations, illustrating how difficult it is to throw such a big party without the help of corporations and lobbyists. Meanwhile, labor union groups have no restrictions in how much money they can donate.

While Obama supporters say he discloses the names behind major donations, the president shocked some when he allowed an independent super PAC to back his re-election earlier this year. These are all seen as signs of how the president has struggled to fulfill his promise to decrease the role of moneyed interests in the political system.

"What they're doing sounds like the old forms of raising money that they claimed they were not going to do," said Fred Wertheimer, president of the campaign finance reform group Democracy 21. "They may not be violating the letter of their own rules, but they certainly are not complying with the spirit of their own rules."