RNC Host Committee

Found, in the Republican National Convention Minneapolis St. Paul Host Committee’s filings with the Federal Election Commission over the last few days: big corporate donations (Target, Best Buy and UnitedHealth each gave more than $1 million) and a sizable sum left over unused ($4.7 million). Together with analyses of donors’ lobbying activities, they tell a tale about the costs and benefits of throwing a party for the national Republican Party.

Lost amid the news accounts and watchdog reports: some of the lesser line items that suggest their own story lines. Here are a few, after the jump.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes postscript about the lengths to which the planners of the Republican National Convention went to ensure the appearance of a discord-free GOP: They tried to scuttle Ron Paul’s counter-convention across the river in Minneapolis, and the next night’s Rage Against the Machine concert as well.