T. Boone Pickens, billionaire industrialist and big Republican donor, is hosting a fundraiser tomorrow evening in Rancho Santa Fe, California, in honor of Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Calif. Pickens does not have top billing however. That honor goes to Speaker of the House, John Boehner, R-Ohio.

The fact that the Speaker is featured as an invitee to the Pickens-hosted fundraiser is what is particularly interesting about this invitation. As Politico reported today, Pickens has recently been involved in a public feud with the Koch brothers over the passage of H.R.  1380, a bill that would give tax breaks to the natural gas industry.

Pickens, who has been touting his “Pickens Plan” for American energy independence since 2008, owns a leading natural gas company and would stand to benefit significantly from the bill. For its part, Koch Industries claims to be against government subsidies that undermine the principles of free-market capitalism. Since the feud began, Republican members of congress have found themselves having to choose between two very influential Republican donors.

Rep. Bilbray is one of the co-sponsors of H.R. 1380. He is no stranger to the natural gas industry having received over $42,000 from Sempra Energy, a natural gas company headquartered just outside of Bilbray’s congressional district.

UPDATE: Party Time found that Boehner did not attend the scheduled fundraiser over the weekend and changed the headline to reflect this.

The congressional district where President Barack Obama was born and raised could go to the G.O.P., according to a recently-leaked White House poll which found Republican candidate Charles Kong Djou tied with Democrat Ed Case. Democrat Colleen Hanabusa–who has backing from both Hawaii senators–runs a distant third.

The special election for Hawaii’s 1st Congressional District is an open race where candidates from all parties appear on the same ballot and the winner takes all. The election is mainly vote-by-mail and results will be announced on May 22. The seat was vacated by Democratic Rep. Neil Abercrombie in February, when he resigned to run for Governor of Hawaii. The winner would serve out the remainder of Abercrombie’s term.

Politico, which obtained the leaked poll, quoted a senior White House official who said that the data points to Case as the best chance for Democrats to maintain the seat.

The poll surveyed 500 likely voters and found Djou and Case in a virtual tie with 36 percent and 34 percent of the vote respectively, while Hanabusa trails at 20 percent.

Hanabusa, a Hawaii State Senator, has raised $716,000, the most of all candidates in the race, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Djou, a Honolulu City Council member and former member of the Hawaii House of Representatives, has raised $545,000, while Case, a former U.S. Representative for Hawaiis 2nd Congressional District, has raised $399,000.

Party Time has only one fundraiser on file for this competitive race; A fundraiser for Djou on March 10 at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington. For $2,500, a political action committee could have co-hosted the event while individual supporters could donate $250. Also listed on the invite were Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas. The distribution was paid for by the National Republican Congressional Committee.

With the exception of former Republican Pat Saiki who had the seat for four years in the late 1980s, Democrats have held Hawaii’s 1st Congressional District seat since it was first established in 1971.

With the May 18 special election right around the corner, the race to snag former Democratic Rep. John Murtha’s seat representing Pennsylvania’s 12th district is heating up.

Both candidates, Republican Tim Burns and Democrat Mark Critz, a former aide to Murtha, held practical mirror-image fundraisers on the same day last week.

Burns held a reception at the Capitol Hill Club and was joined by Republican Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, Republican Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., the National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions, and the Pennsylvania Republican Delegation.

Around the same time, Critz held a reception at Lounge 201, a bar the Washington Post calls “A Sinatra-style Capitol Hill martini lounge for those tired of the $2 Budweiser scene.” In attendance were Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen, and the Pennsylvania Democratic Delegation.

A recent poll by Public Policy Polling shows that Burns holds a small lead over Critz. Murtha was the first Democrat since 1942 to represent Pennsylvania’s 12th district, a position he held for more than 35 years. The Cook Political Report describes the race as a “toss up.”

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Burns also leads in fundraising. He has raised nearly $550,000, while Critz has raised less than $400,000. But Critz may have an ace in the hole: the Washington Post reports that Murtha’s earmarks for area defense contractors might continue paying dividends to Critz, the aide that used to request them. “Defense contractors, local business officers and lobbyists that relied on earmarked federal contracts from Murtha…recently chipped in $142,400,” the Post found.

Murtha was a central figure in the PMA Group scandal; the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct cleared him of wrongdoing. When he worked for Murtha, who served as chair of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, Critz compiled the list of earmarks that Murtha would fund. According to the Post, Murtha “routinely approved the list his staff gave him without making any changes.”

Two members of Congress who show up the most on invitations we collect at Party Time are House minority leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House majority leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). In their leadership capacities, Boehner and Hoyer not only collect massive amounts of money for their own campaigns, much of which they dole back out to colleagues. (See Boehner’s expenditures here and Hoyer’s here. ) They also act as draws at fundraising events for others.

From press reports, we know we get see a slice of all the events where Boehner and Hoyer appear. CQ Politics recently wrote that Boehner had headlined 127 events around the country in 2009 and raised $13.7 million. The interactive map below shows 53, most of them in the shadow of the Capitol building. Click on the flags to see details about the events.

House Democrats were peeved yesterday round about 6:30 when Republicans forced the lengthy reading of a 55-page technical motion out loud.Republicans were doing it, they said, not because of their interest in the details–but rather so colleagues had cover to attend Rep. John Boehner’s (R-OH) annual waterfront beach party–which Boehner’s office of course denied. (See Politico story here and Roll call here.)

The party may be over, but you can still see the invitation here at Party Time. To be a sponsor, you would have had to pony up $5,000; to be a mere host, $2,500; a VIP, $1,500; and a mere “individual,” $250. The event was at the Cantina Marina.

This weekend features a couple of getaways from the city offered by lawmakers seeking cash for their leadership PACs.

Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) will be hosting a “Pacific Northwest Summer Retreat” at the Suquamish Clearwater Casino in Washington state. Guests can look forward to sailing, kayaking (with the Congressman!), gambling and a ‘legislative update breakfast.’ Contributions are to be made out to his New Apollo Energy PAC–named for the New Apollo Energy Act he and 14 other representatives introduced in the House on June 9, 2005.

The second fundraiser will be hosted by House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH), Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) and Rep. Tom Latham (R-IA). Contributions are to be made out to the joint fundraising committee Americans for a Conservative Course. The invitation states that all donations will then be equally distributed between the four leadership committees: the Freedom Project (Boehner), For America’s Republican Majority (Latham), the Next Century Fund (Burr), and the Republican Majority Fund (Chambliss).

The other day I posted about how Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) likes to help out fellow lawmakers by lending his name to their fundraising invitations. That got me thinking–who in Congress parties the most for their posses? So I queried our Party Time database.

Drum roll please…the answer is:

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), with a whopping 60 parties on file since 2006; and Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), with 48. (Note: these records have not yet been scrubbed for duplicates, so there are some repeat parties here.) The two are, respectively, the House majority and minority leaders.

What does this show? That partying for the party is a big–if not the biggest–part of the job description when you are in the congressional leadership.