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THE 2004 CAMPAIGN: REPUBLICANS

THE 2004 CAMPAIGN: REPUBLICANS; Parties Are Big Business At New York Convention

From a party for hundreds at the Temple of Dendur in the Metropolitan Museum of Art to intimate apartment gatherings high above Fifth Avenue overlooking Central Park, the Republican National Convention in New York next week will be a more lavish, and certainly more expensive, affair than the Democratic bash in Boston last month.

At Cartier, guests can shop while they mingle and munch with lawmakers. There will be dinners at Per Se and Daniel. Conventiongoers will cruise New York Harbor at midnight and gather on the flight deck of the U.S.S. Intrepid, a retired aircraft carrier docked in the Hudson River at 46th Street. And official Washington will, of course, be treated to some of the most elaborate events, sponsored by companies such as General Motors, Boeing, American Express and scores of others.

''It's a fancy city and it's a party that leans toward big business,'' said John Jonas, who directs public policy for the law firm Patton Boggs. ''If it was hot dogs and street entertainers, I'd be worried.''

Indeed, it will be big business. Hundreds of companies, trade associations and other lobbying groups are not about to miss the chance to entertain top members of the party in power, taking advantage of campaign finance and ethics rules that allow almost unlimited spending at conventions and the social events that surround them. The result is that the Republican convention is expected to be a far larger opportunity for special interests than its Democratic counterpart, from the hundreds of parties thrown for powerful office holders to solicitations from the advocacy groups known as 527 committees, which will use the gathering to raise money.

Not only will millions of dollars be spent on these parties, but the convention itself is more expensive. The city's host committee, which is responsible for raising private contributions to pay for most of the official convention events, has raised more than $64 million, about a third more than Democrats raised for their convention. More than 65 companies, and about a dozen wealthy Republicans, contributed.

''It's New York City and it's the Republicans, so I imagine that will translate,'' said Jeff MacKinnon, a Republican lobbyist. ''It's a town that is about power, and it's a town that is about money. That should equal some pretty good parties.''

PepsiCo Inc. is sponsoring a party for Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, the majority leader, at the Temple of Dendur, built about 15 B.C., where guests can sip cocktails and gaze at the Egyptian work of sandstone. General Motors will be the host of an event for Representative J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois, the House speaker, on Sunday at Tavern on the Green.

For an event honoring former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York at the Rainbow Room, 65 stories above Manhattan, on Wednesday, the chairman of Pfizer Inc., Hank McKinnell, is listed on the invitation with Gov. George E. Pataki and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.

''They will use this as a relationship-building vehicle with committee chairs and others who have oversight over their business,'' said Harry Clark, a veteran lobbyist who advises companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. ''It's a very practical view of the political world.''

Then there's Senator John McCain of Arizona, who is throwing a party that has become one of the most coveted tickets of the convention. The party, which is at Cipriani on Wednesday, has been called ''Live from New York, It's Wednesday Night,'' and the invitation plays the Abba song ''Mamma Mia.''

As the primary sponsor of new campaign finance laws, Mr. McCain eschewed corporate sponsorship and paid for the party with money he raised in small, regulated contributions. But there are others coming to the convention with hopes of raising money in larger amounts.

Republican advocacy groups that can collect six- and-seven-figure ''soft money'' checks, the type that the McCain-Feingold bill banned candidates and parties from collecting, will reach out to donors, much as Democratic groups did in Boston.

The Progress for America Voter Fund, for example, has established itself at the Ritz-Carlton, the same hotel where major fund-raisers for President Bush and the Republican National Committee are staying. There, officials will meet with donors and show them television advertisements they are running against Senator John Kerry in an effort to recruit them. Officials had a conference call earlier this week to identify potential donors, but much will be left to handle on the ground.

''Two-thirds of the accomplishments occur in the hallways,'' said C. Boyden Gray, a former White House counsel who is on the group's advisory board. ''The people you want to see are in a fairly small radius. You run into them on the convention floor, in the sky boxes or in the hospitality suites.''

It is also an opportunity for industries to get close to committee chairmen and other lawmakers who regulate their industries.

For example, the American Petroleum Institute, the National Mining Association, the American Gas Association, the Edison Electric Institute and other organizations are throwing a party on Tuesday for Representative Joe L. Barton of Texas, the chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

The Gas Association alone is spending $700,000 on nine parties in New York and the six it held in Boston, said Daphne Magnuson, an association spokeswoman.

In New York, the world's financial capital, the lawmakers who run the committees that regulate financial services are getting attention, too.

The Securities Industry Association and the Bond Market Association are honoring Representative Michael G. Oxley of Ohio, the chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, at Penthouse 15 on Wednesday. The American Bankers Association will be the host of an event on Tuesday at Sotheby's for Senator Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the chairman of the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.

While there is no shortage of large parties at high-profile places, some are taking a different approach.

AT&T, Target, United States Tobacco and the law firm Piper Rudnick are among those sponsoring an event that offers ''Big Apple Martinis'' at the Bowlmor Lanes in Greenwich Village on Sunday, honoring Representative David Dreier of California, the chairman of the House Rules Committee and the convention's parliamentarian.

Many events are intimate, at least by New York standards. Georgette Mosbacher, the New York businesswoman and veteran Republican fund-raiser, is giving four small parties in her plush Fifth Avenue apartment, which can easily hold 200 people. A fifth will be held at Cartier to honor Mr. Drier. Guests received a velvet-lined invitation offering the opportunity to buy baubles from the jeweler's fall collection.

Of course, the Bush-Cheney campaign and the Republican Party also have some honoring to do, most of it directed at hundreds of fund-raisers who helped Mr. Bush collect more than $240 million through July.

Leaders of Mr. Bush's finance team sent a letter on Aug. 18 asking some fund-raisers to reserve time Tuesday afternoon ''for a very small private reception in one of New York's most beautiful homes.'' Party officials declined to provide details.

In the end, the convention can be a challenge for fund-raisers and lobbyists who have to juggle these events. Ms. Mosbacher, for example, found herself picking through more than 80 invitations. She wound up creating a spreadsheet that designated parties as yeses, nos and maybes.

One ''yes'' was a midnight cruise through New York Harbor on a 173-foot yacht. Many other events, especially those seeking money, were declined.

''It's just so daunting,'' she said. ''We had to do some triage.''

And then, there are those who simply take everything in stride. The Mississippi Power has reserved a table for 15 in a private room at the four-star restaurant Le Bernardin. But the company has no guest list, preferring instead to troll for dinner guests at the convention. As Kurt Brautigam, a spokesman for the company, put it: ''We'll decide when we get there who we want to invite.''

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 11 of the National edition with the headline: THE 2004 CAMPAIGN: REPUBLICANS; Parties Are Big Business At New York Convention. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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