This morning, I was wandering around the second floor of the Ritz Carlton hotel, a swanky establishment downtown, with a photographer from Congressional Quarterly. Up by the banquet rooms, I was peering at doorways to see if I could find any signs with events, when a young man said, “You are in the right place!” and waved us toward a room. There was a sign in front of it saying “DNC Finance Committee Information.” I took this photo, but alas it’s blurry.

Inside the room I asked another helpful young man what he was doing. “Was this room for donors?” I asked. he said, yes, that he was giving them maps and telling them about events. “Are there any events going on right now,” I asked? He said, “Yes, there’s a shuttle to take them over to the Pepsi Center so they can get their photos taken on the podium.”

Earlier that morning my son Leo and I had stopped by the Big Tent, where the Sunlight Foundation is a sponsor. Leo was very excited to see the forklift out front–apparently they’re still putting final touches on the structure. We got our credentials and then went in the building next door, known as the Alliance Center, to wander around a bit.

On the third floor is the Huffington Post “oasis,” where staffers dressed in all black presided. Here weary bloggers can get healthy snacks–they gave Leo some nuts and a strawberry smoothie–do yoga and get free massages. (I’ll admit I signed up for the latter, although I doubt I’ll have time to follow through on it. That would be the most I’d ever gotten “Paid” by HuffPo, though I’ve blogged there occasionally over the years.) I’m pretty certain that if I were a member of Congress, accepting a free massage would be off limits. But who knows–I’d have to check with the ethics committees.

Ok, first apologies to the writers of Fiddler on the Roof for that headline.

Leslie Wayne and Michael Luo of The New York Times nail the convention party story today in their report on how campaign donors to the political parties are getting, well, a little special treatment when they attend the Democratic and Republican conventions.

Major donors to the Democratic Party, the Obama campaign and the Denver host committee are getting Invesco sky boxes. Donors giving $1,000 to the Obama Victory Fund in Colorado get “club level” seats and a postspeech reception. And bundlers who delivered on their $250,000 pledges will get premium seats and convention passes.

On the Republican side:

[M]ajor McCain and Republican National Committee, many of them lobbyists, are getting a special Platinum Package, which provides hotel rooms at the Grand Hotel or the Westin in Minneapolis, exclusive dinners and cocktail receptions, as well as a Tuesday night party featuring the comedian Dennis Miller. The group, referred to as McCain Friends and Family, has its own schedule of events, part of what campaigns call “donor maintenance.”

The important thing to remember about these donor perks, parties, and receptions is that because they are part of political fundraising, they are exempt from the new ethics law, the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act. That means no worry about toothpicks, none about whether an event is “widely attended” or not-no worry about anything like that. Even though there still are plenty of old-fashioned entertainment at the conventions sponsored by special interests, my guess is that a lot of the partying action has moved to these donor events.