A virtual convention means not as many perks for big donors.
|
Version 0 of 1. The Democrats’ biggest donors are used to being feted at the party’s national convention, breezing through a maze of tiered luxury suites and V.I.P. rooms with free-flowing appetizers, access and booze. This year, though, even those who have given $500,000 and up are stuck watching the same virtual event from home as the rest of us. So ahead of the week’s virtual gathering, the party and the Biden campaign mailed along a care package to tide over any forlorn financiers: notebooks embossed with the number 46 (as in the potential for Joseph R. Biden Jr. to be the 46th president), hats, buttons, posters, a bag of “Cup of Joe” coffee (a moderate, friendly medium roast) and a bottle of confetti to be deployed whenever the mood strikes. Like nearly everything else in American life, the already cloistered world of political fund-raising has been upended by the coronavirus pandemic, as campaigns and contributors alike figure out how to raise tens of millions of dollars without so much as a photo line (Zoom screenshots are a poor substitute). The lack of a convention is especially a blow to the political arms of House and Senate Democrats, along with the Democratic Governors Association, which lay out their plans to woo donors months in advance. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is still offering up to $35,500 packages to donors to attend three briefings with various senators and Senate candidates. Still, it’s not the same as the serendipity of being there. “There is nothing like the excitement of being in the convention hall and the daily nonstop of events, meetings and ad hoc hotel lobby meetups,” said Michael Kempner, a Democratic fund-raiser who has previously raised money for both Mr. Biden and Senator Kamala Harris of California, the Democratic nominee for vice president. “I am surprised how much I already miss it.” |