Denver Short on Funds for Dem Convention

Operation Chaos, Rush Limbaugh's campaign to keep the battle going in the Dem party, is having another beneficial effect:

DENVER -- The long and winding fight for the Democratic presidential nomination is giving a fundraising migraine to the Mile High City.

As the host city, Denver must raise $40.6 million by June 16 for the party's Aug. 25-28 convention. This week, the host committee missed its second fundraising deadline, and Mayor John W. Hickenlooper said he believed the drawn-out battle between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois had distracted potential donors.

"I think there's still so much focus around who the candidate will be that it is hard for people" to focus on the convention, he said.

If the Democrats already had a nominee, "everybody would be focusing on 'How can we make it a great convention?' " he said.

Denver's host committee fell $5 million short of its goal to raise $28 million by March 17. Committee officials declined to comment, but said in a written statement that they had commitments for $28 million.

"Our strategy," committee spokesman Chris Lopez said in a statement, "is to raise as much money in the months leading up the convention as we can. That's the fiscally prudent thing to do, and we're making our donors aware that we need their financial support now. Our team is working aggressively to meet all of our goals."

Depending on who gets the nomination they may have to really bump up their security budget.