Can I contribute to the Red Cross and McCain-Palin ticket at the same time?

Question

A national alcohol lobbying group "Spirits" alliance or somesuch title is hosting a fundraiser today to benefit the victims of Hurricane Gustav. . .It's unclear if expenses of the event will be subtracted from the event before the remainder goes to charity. . .Have you got your credit card ready for the upcoming Republican Party "McCain gives back" telethon on Thursday night?

Answer 1

You have up to 10:30 p.m. CST St. Paul's local time to do so - -

here's the Julia Eilperin story for "The Trail" column for www.washingtonpost.com/

Sen. John McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis told reporters at an afternoon press conference that the campaign will inform any corporate or individual party sponsors "to please be respectful of the situation in the Gulf" and to take every opportunity to raise money for potential hurricane victims rather than feting the GOP.

Even before Davis spoke to the press one group -- sponsors of a Monday night "Spirits of Minneapolis" event -- sent out an e-mail informing partygoers that they have made "a collective decision to change the event into the Spirits of the Gulf Coast, shifting the focus into a fundraiser for the American Red Cross Hurricane Relief fund."

"To that end, we will have a senior Red Cross representative in attendance and we will encourage everyone to make a donation to the Fund at the door," read the e-mail for the event, whose main sponsors include the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, Amgen, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, Daimler and The Hill newspaper. "In addition, the event sponsors will make a large matching contribution and present a check at 10:30 PM."