With the holiday break approaching fast, we’ve got more than two dozen congressional fundraisers in the Party Time database scheduled to take place before Christmas. Some of note include:

• Florida Gov. Charlie Crist continues his fundraising swing through Florida, with two parties coming up in the next week in Naples and St. Petersburg. As we blogged here, Crist has been furiously fundraising in a contested primary with Marco Rubio for a senate seat.
• Lobbyist Matt Keelen, who represents a mix of unions and some industry clients, is hosting a luncheon today for Rep. Rodney Alexander, a Republican from Louisiana. Alexander switched parties from Democrat to Republican in 2004. So far he’s collected more than $435,000 toward his 2010 election race, without any opponent reporting any cash raised.
• On Thursday, GAS PAC, the PAC for the American Gas Association, is feting Sen. John Thune of South Dakota. In January, the association praised Thune for cosponsoring legislation to provide a tax incentive for production of natural gas from waste products.

We just went by the Epic nightclub, where a party for the Republican Governors Association (RGA) was underway, sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute, the National Mining Association, and the American Gas Association.

Yet again, we were turned away by a pleasant gatekeeper, who did confirm that it was Mississippi Governor “Haley Barbour’s party” that we were not allowed to attend. “I’m sorry, but you’re not on the list.” Who was on the list? I looked while she paged through it and saw some company names leap out: Pfizer, Eli Lilly, and the lobbying firm the Dutko Group.

Meanwhile, there was a lot of energy on the streets. Outside the RGA party protestors rallied. We saw some folks from Code Pink and some people who described themselves as “lobbyists for lobbyists” protesting what they said were Sen. John McCain’s and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s ties to big oil.

A few blocks away a different crowd gathered in front of the Target Center. It was a group of Ron Paul supporters, who had attended a “Rally for the Republic” featuring Paul. Paul had tried and failed to get a speaking role at the Republican National Convention. The event’s organizers claimed they sold over 10,000 tickets.