Orange Julius – Today, Rep. Joe Baca, D-Calif., is scheduled to attend the National Orange Show Annual Awards Dinner in San Bernardino, Calif.  To join Baca at this event, tickets range from $5,000 for PACs to $99 for individual contributions. Baca’s fundraiser invitations appear frequently in the Party Time database.

Tuesday Moneymakers – Tuesday is a popular day to fundraise this week for several members of Congress. Legendary R&B singer Chaka Khan is the featured entertainment at an evening concert at the Birchmere, where Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga. plans to raise cash. Cost is $85 for a ticket from Ticketmaster; Johnson is asking donors for $1,500 for one ticket, $2,500 for two.Meanwhile, Reps. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., and Mike Quigley, D-Ill., are planning fundraisers at the Washington Capitals vs. St. Louis Blues hockey game. Stearns’ event is hosted by former Texas Rep. Jack Fields, now a lobbyist for the Twenty-First Century Group, along with an AT&T lobbyist, a Verizon lobbyist, and another with the Glover Park Group. Rep. Bill Owens, D-N.Y., will be hosting a seasonal New York Apple Harvest Reception at the National Democratic Club Townhouse. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C. plans to appear at a dinner fundraiser benefiting Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, Tuesday night.

Race for Massachusetts - As the Massachusetts Senate race continues to heat up,  Sen. Scott Brown continues his fundraising efforts on Wednesday as he hosts a breakfast fundraiser. To join Brown for breakfast, tickets start at $2,500 for PACs and $1,000 for individuals.

Big Easy in DC – Bringing Louisiana flavor to the nation’s capitol, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D. La., will be hosting an evening filled with sweets and treats from the Bayou at her Capitol Hill home on Wednesday.

Tired of Turkey, Try Chinese Takeout – If people are tired of Thanksgiving leftovers, they can join Rep. Tom Reed, R-N.Y., on Wednesday for Chinese Takeout. Hosts are lobbyists Dan Mattoon and Mike Zarrelli.

Texas Sized Breakfast – Originally scheduled for October 25, Rep. Silvestre Reyes, R-Texas, breakfast fundraiser has been rescheduled for this Thursday. Former Super Committee Member Rep. Xavier Becerra, R-Calif., is scheduled to attend as a special guest.

Tis’ the Season – As 2011 comes to a close, politicians are scrambling to raise money with holiday cheer. This Thursday, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee will be hosting a holiday party featuring Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C. This fundraiser is to benefit a long list of “Frontline Members,” including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz.

Reps. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., Melvin Watt, D-N.C., and Heath Schuler, D-N.C. will also be hosting holiday themed fundraisers on Thursday. Sewell will be having a holiday cupcakes and cocktails reception; Watt will be hosting a “holiday sip” in the evening; and Shuler will kick-off winter with a Southern reception.

Rep. Gwen Moore, D- Wis.,  is hosting a holiday concert fundraiser featuring American Idol finalist and Wisconsin native Naima Adedapo this Saturday. Attendees can pay $75 for two tickets or $50 for one ticket.

California Dreamin’ – Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., will be at Honorable Tom Reynold’s 19^th Annual Pebble Beach Golf Weekend starting Dec.2-4. The cost is $5,000 per PAC and $2,500 per individual.

Ski Weekend- Sen. Lisa Murkowski will be in Deer Valley, UT for the First Tracks Ski Trip. Murkowski has raised cash while skiing before.

For the complete list of fundraisers this week, check out Party Time.

Two moderate Republican senators are on fundraising sprees to ensure they defend their seats from challenges from the right wing of their party. Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., has seven fundraisers scheduled in June-July and Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, has eight fundraisers scheduled in the same time frame. Sen. Lugar already faces a primary challenger in the form of Indiana state treasurer Richard Mourdock, while there are at least two Republicans looking to unseat Snowe.

Although Sen. Lugar is currently close to $2 million ahead of his opponent, he is not resting on his laurels.  Tomorrow night, Sen. Lugar will stop by the offices of the C2 Group for a summer reception on the patio. The event will be hosted by a group of eight veteran lobbyists, many of whom were once staff to members of Congress. Also scheduled to be present at the event is Sen. Lisa Murkowski, I-Alaska, who undoubtedly will have some advice for Sen. Lugar on the subject of facing a primary challenge from a more right-wing candidate. Suggested contributions for the event are $250 to $2,500.

Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, is also holding two events at the same location tomorrow. According to invitations received by Party Time she is scheduled to be there tomorrow for breakfast and lunch. The National Association of Realtors, a consistent contributor to the senator, will be hosting the breakfast event from 8 to 9am. Listed contributions range from $1,000 to $5,000. A few hours later, from 12:30 to 1:30, Snowe will be back at the Charlie Palmer steak house for a lunch hosted by Mimi Dawson and former chief of staff to Rep. Katherine Harris, R-Fla., Scott Weaver. Campaign contributions for the lunch event are the same as the breakfast.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, write-in-Alaska, is still the top Republican on the Senate Energy committee even as she runs to retain her seat after losing the G.O.P. primary to Tea Party-powered rival Joe Miller, but lobbyists for interests regulated by her committee are raising money for a senator in the running to be her successor.

Next week, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., – is set to hold a fundraiser, though he’s not up for re-election in 2010. On the invitation to Barrasso’s event, at least three energy industry lobbyists are listed as hosts. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., who with Barrasso are the next-ranking Republicans on the Energy Committee, is also holding an event, headlined by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Burr faces voters this November.

Burr and Barrasso, like the woman they might succeed, have benefited from campaign contributions from industries they oversee. As the ranking member, Murkowski has amassed over $800,000 in campaign donations from the energy and natural resources sector, trumping all other sectors, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Burr and Barrasso have received a few hundred thousand dollars less, and both have received more support from other sectors.

Both senators have a major energy company in their home states – Alpha Natural Resources (which merged with Foundation Coal) in Barrasso’s Wyoming and Duke Energy in Burr’s North Carolina — that are among their biggest campaign contributors, according to CRP.

Burr’s $2,000-per-PAC fundraiser is at the Capitol Hill eatery Johnny’s Half Shell while Barrasso is holding his annual Italian buffet event, asking donors for between $250 and $2,500, at UPS’s Hill townhouse. Two coal industry lobbyists are listed as hosts on the invitation, including one that  has lobbied on clean coal issues that Barrasso has promoted in the Senate. David DiStefano lobbied this year for Baard Energy on “energy legislation related to coal-to-liquid fuels,” according to his lobbyist disclosure form.  The company is developing a coal liquefaction plant in Ohio. The other industry lobbyist is Mark Valente of North American Coal.

Barrasso has been a supporter of clean coal technology, writing a letter criticizing a White House official for questioning the technology’s viability. He was also a co-sponsor of the Coal-to-Liquid Fuel Promotion Act of 2007.

Alpha Natural Resources – which merged with Foundation Coal, Barrasso’s second largest campaign donor  – has lobbied for a federal loan program for “qualifying coal-to-liquids” facilities as well as “all provisions providing incentives for investment in carbon capture and sequestration.” The company operates mines in Wyoming. Barrasso has introduced a bill to authorize the Secretary of Energy to give financial rewards for carbon capture technology.

Greg Pensabene, another host for Barrasso’s Italian buffet, lobbies for Anadarko Petroleum, part owner of the well drilled by the infamous Deepwater Horizon oil rig, which exploded causing a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Barrasso has criticized Senate Democrats for removing the oil spill liability cap entirely; he said doing so would create a monopoly for the biggest oil companies. On the Senate floor he disagreed with the “overly broad drilling moratorium that’s been imposed by the Obama Administration.”

He added that the oil spill commission was “stacked with people who philosophically oppose offshore exploration.”

Barrasso has tried to establish a separate, bipartisan commission by introducing an amendment to the energy committee’s Outer Continental Shelf Reform Act of 2010. Pensabene reported lobbying on that bill.

Burr, who planned at least three fundraisers this week, has raised nine times more money than his challenger, and his race is considered “likely Republican” by the Cook Political Report.

If Burr is offered the energy panel ranking position, he would have to step down as ranking member of the Veterans Affairs Committee, something he told The Hill he would “seriously consider.”

Republicans elected not to remove Murkowski from top energy post since they expect her to lose in November, CNN reported. However, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell did push Murkowski to relinquish her spot as vice-chair of the Senate Republican Conference after she decided to run a write-in campaign.

*In today’s GOP primary, it’s a hot battle between two of Alaska’s political lineages: the establishment Stevenites and the startup Palinites. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, a protégé of the late Ted Stevens with a big war chest, nearly $450,000 of it raised in the Washington, DC area, is being challenged from the right by Tea Party pick and friend of Todd Palin Joe Miller. Sarah Palin recorded a robo-call for Miller and made a last-minute fundraising appeal to his supporters.

A quick look at Murkowski’s Party Time’s records and you’ll see Stevens’ influence. Her most recent fundraiser on file was hosted by the former senator’s first chief of staff,  lobbyist Ron Birch, who called him “the single-most honest human being I’ve ever known.” He and four other Birch, Horton et al lobbyists were listed as hosts of the luncheon. The Anchorage and Washington-based outfit advocates for such diverse Alaska interests as the Prince William Sound Science Center, Enstar Natural Gas and the Alaska Professional Hunters Association.

Another Murkowski D.C. fundraiser earlier this year was hosted by Target PAC. The company has caught flack recently for giving $150,000 to a conservative political group which donated to an Minnesota candidate opposing gay marriage. The company’s PAC and executives have contributed $12,400 to Murkowski for this election, including a maximum personal contribution from its CEO, president and chairman of the board Gregg Steinhafel, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

*In Arizona, Ben Quayle (Dan’s son), got himself involved in a local scandal, so he is not the clear favorite he once was when he planned this D.C. fundraiser in May. Among the hosts for the GOP-star studded event were Bill Kristol (Dan’s former chief of staff) and Fred Malek, chairman of the American Action Network, a new independent expenditure group that aims to spend $25 million this election helping candidates on the right.

Quayle has taken in two-thirds of his about $1.3 million in donations from out-of-state, according to CRP. Businessman Steve Moak, his most serious challenger, has raised slightly less, but 90 percent has come from Arizona donors. The winner will have the advantage in this GOP-leaning district against attorney Jon Hulburd.

*Down in southern Florida, also Republican territory, GOP state Rep. David Rivera will have to get over rumors of past domestic violence to beat Paul Crespo, a conservative media personality, and lawyer Marili Cancio in the primary. According to Party Time invitations, he was feted by what looked like the entire GOP firmament, including House Minority Leader John Boehner, Ohio, and Minority Whip Eric Cantor, Va., back in April and then by National Republican Campaign Committee chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, last month.

*If Rivera wins, he will likely battle Joe Garcia, who lost the seat in 2008 to Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., who is running in a neighboring district. Garcia was part of a Democratic Congressional Committee fundraiser for candidates in its “Red to Blue” program, aimed at turning GOP districts to Democrats. Garcia was thrown a party at the home of big-time Democratic lobbyist and frequent party host Robert Raben. At $1.6 million, Garcia has out-raised Rivera’s $1.3 million thus far, according to CRP.

Tonight several lobbyists for the energy industry are feting Sen. Lisa Murkowksi (R-Alaska). Murkowski gets more campaign cash from the energy and natural resources sector than any other–more than $1 million over the course of her career. Seventy-three percent of her campaign cash comes from sources out of state.

Host Alex Flint lobbies for the Nuclear Energy Institute, whose PAC has given her $5,000 since 2008. Beverly K. Marshall lobbies for Duke Energy, which is based in North Carolina, and has given the senator $24,050 over the course of her career. David Russell represents a number of clients for Bryan Cave LLP, including Peabody Energy, a coal company based in St. Louis,  Mo. Peabody’s PAC has given her $3,000 since 2008.

Also listed on the invitation are Senators Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and Mike Enzi (R-Ga.)

Elham Khatami contributed to this post.

If an email could shout, the one I received this morning from a vacation lodging company would do it. “The snow is falling! Aspen/Snowmass has already received 2 feet of snow and more is on the way.” Yes, this is the time of year when we Denverites start to fantasize about how much snow is falling where and how we can manage to dodge traffic on I-70 to get to the mountains and start skiing on it.

And according to our Party Time database, at least five lawmakers have dreams of white fluffy stuff too–although to attend you or your PAC would have to chip in anywhere from $2,300 to $5,000 attend.

Here in Colorado, my own representative Colorado Democrat Rep. Diana Degette is planning a Vail ski weekend from Jan. 2 through Jan. 5.  The following week, Jan. 8 -11, Rep. Carolyn B Maloney (D-NY) is also planning a Vail get away. The same weekend, Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) is planning to ski in nearby Beaver Creek in an event to benefit his leadership PAC, First State PAC.

Not that everybody skis in Colorado. Over in Idaho there are some big hills too. Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) is planning his annual ski fest in Sun Valley for February 6 – 8. And then there’s of course Alaska. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) plans to celebrate the 37th Iditarod with some skiing at the Aleyeska ski resort.

Perhaps there are other skiing fundraising events planned that we don’t know about. If you have heard about them, please send the information our way.

The guilty verdict in the trial of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) had barely been delivered this afternoon when a few GOP senatorial heavyweights started using words like “disgrace,” and “consequences.” It was a far cry from four months ago, just before he was indicted, when a long list of GOP senators were listed on an invitation for a luncheon in his honor.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was on that list. Today, instead of toasting Stevens, he had this to say:

“This is a sad but serious day. Sen. Stevens was found guilty by a jury of his peers, and now must face the consequences of those actions. As a result of his conviction, Sen. Stevens will be held accountable so the public trust can be restored.”

So was Sen. John Ensign (R-NV). Today Ensign said:

“This is a sad day for the United States Senate. Ted Stevens served his constituents for over 40 years and I am disappointed to see his career end in disgrace.”

Only fellow Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, who also was listed on the June invitation, stood by her man:

“Ted has asked for Alaskans and his Senate colleagues to stand with him as he pursues his legal rights. He stood with Alaskans for 40 years, and I plan to continue to stand with him.”

Does that mean she would still party for him?

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