Congressional Fundraisers Let It Rock

If you're going to fork over a couple of grand to a congressional candidate, you might as well have fun doing it.

That's the thinking of several members of the House fighting for reelection who are eschewing the boring rubber-chicken dinner fundraisers in favor of rock-and-roll concerts at Verizon Center this fall.

Republican Greg Walden (Ore.) and Democrats Diana DeGette (Colo.), Allen Boyd (Fla.) and Melissa Bean (Ill.) are holding separate fundraising events when the Police reunion tour swings through Washington on Nov. 5. Their supporters will pony up anywhere from $2,000 per person to $5,000 (in the case of Boyd's political action committee) to rock out with the lawmakers to the iconic '80s heartthrob Sting and his old band mates Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland-- their first official Police tour in 25 years.

Bruce Springsteen comes to town the week after the Police, and Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.), the self-declared No. 1 Springsteen fan in Congress, will take a bevy of supporters to the Boss's "Magic" tour concert on Nov. 11. Crowley is asking political action committees to pay $2,500 per ticket.

Crowley, it should be known, is an accomplished amateur rock musician; he even has a video of himself on YouTube performing "Pink Cadillac" on stage this year with Nils Lofgren of Springsteen's E Street Band. And, yes, Crowley freely admits that he has been fantasizing the Boss will pull him on stage.

Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) is hosting a fundraiser at the Springsteen show, too, to the tune of $2,500 per PAC donation. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D), whose coastal New Jersey district is home to Springsteen landmarks such as the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, is also cashing in on the Garden State's favorite son, hosting events at both the Nov. 11 and Nov. 12 concerts.

Rep. Mary Bono (R-Calif.) is asking supporters to pay $1,000 per person or $1,500 per PAC contribution to join her in the owner's box Oct. 16 at Verizon Center to see the pop band Maroon 5.

And while the rocking and money-raising cut across party lines, good luck finding a Republican raising dough at the anti-Bush, antiwar Springsteen show. We think Dems will have a lock on that venue.

Has Partisanship Lost Its Luster?

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has invited his counterpart, Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), to give a talk Monday at the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville. Yes, that Reid -- the one who goes throat to throat with McConnell and the GOP on the floor of the Senate each day, in one of the more bitterly partisan eras in the chamber's history.

The topic of Reid's speech, according to his spokesman, will be "the need to reach across the aisle to work on a bipartisanship basis."

As the McConnell Center's Web site proclaims: "Perhaps for the first time, both party leaders of the U.S. Senate will appear on the same stage on a college campus."

McConnell spokesman Don Stewart explained to us that the McConnell Center is "a partisanship-free zone."