Paul Ryan campaigning in Virginia earlier this month. (Photo: Getty)

A Politicker examination of federal campaign finance disclosure reports submitted by Paul Ryan’s congressional campaign has uncovered indications Mr. Ryan may have improperly used funds raised for his re-election effort in Wisconsin for presidential campaign activities at the Republican National Convention in August. Mr. Ryan is simultaneously running for re-election in Wisconsin's First Congressional District and on the GOP presidential ticket with Mitt Romney. At the RNC in Tampa, Mr. Ryan's House campaign spent about $60,000. However, these convention expenses seem to go far beyond the scope of the activities and staff he had at the RNC for his bid to reclaim his House seat.

One prominent election law expert told us this is a "highly problematic" potential violation of Federal Election Commission regulations regarding candidates running for multiple federal offices. A spokesperson for Mr. Ryan's opponent in Wisconsin’s First Congressional District described it as a possibly "troubling" element of "Paul Ryan's overarching pattern of dishonesty in this race." When we reached out to Mr. Ryan's congressional campaign manager, we received a shifting series of explanations including at least one statement that was clearly untrue.

According to the quarterly campaign finance disclosure filed in October, Mr. Ryan's congressional campaign spent $59,603.41 that was specifically identified as convention-related expenses between July 26 and October 17. FEC regulations require candidates who, like Mr. Ryan, are actively running for multiple federal offices to "designate separate principal campaign committees and establish completely separate campaign organizations." These separate committees are prohibited from transferring "funds, goods, or services, including loans and loan guarantees" between themselves. Expenditures made by a vice presidential candidate while participating in national campaign activity in the course of a campaign are considered "expenditures made by or on behalf" of the presidential campaign they are associated with.

The FEC has issued advisory opinions explaining what expenses are allowed for candidates attending their parties’ conventions. In one of these, the commission notes that convention expenses cannot include "any use of funds in a campaign account of a present or former candidate to fulfill a commitment, obligation or expense of any person that would exist irrespective of the candidate's campaign or duties as a Federal officeholder." In the same advisory opinion, the commission said "regulations covering delegate activity indicate that such costs would be for the purpose of influencing a Federal election and, hence, not a personal use." In other words, in Mr. Ryan's case, this means he would be permitted to use his campaign account only to fund expenses related to him and his campaign staff attending and holding events explicitly associated with his re-election effort, not for general convention expenses which would be considered part of the effort to boost his campaign with Mr. Romney. If a committee pays for someone to attend the convention and they participate in activities related to multiple campaigns, their expenses must be paid incrementally by the separate committees involved. Furthermore, convention guests whose expenses are paid for by one of their campaign committees must be "integral" to their campaign efforts.

However, though Mr. Ryan spent about $60,000 at the convention, his campaign manager, Kevin Seifert, told us his congressional campaign staff includes only five people and the bulk of his RNC expenses came from the purchase of over 20 hotel rooms.

Yesterday, Politicker spoke on the phone with Mr. Seifert about the campaign's activities at the RNC.

"I think, pretty much, there was only one Ryan for Congress affiliated event, which was we had a hospitality suite at the convention," said Mr. Seifert. "Beyond that, there was a Wisconsin beer and brats event. Beyond those two, nothing else comes to mind in terms of Ryan for Congress specifically."

The vast majority of Mr. Ryan's convention spending does not seem to be related to these events. Mr. Ryan's largest RNC expense was a $34,854.35 payment for "hotel rooms" at the Marriott Tampa Waterside, which was the Romney campaign's base at the convention. Mr. Ryan's congressional campaign also paid $4,183.20 for "hotel rooms" for the convention at a Hyatt hotel. Mr. Seifert told us the hospitality suite was located "in the convention hall" and the "beer and brats" event was held in a "staging area" near the convention.

"It was at the—I can't remember what they called it, it was a—basically the main staging area for these events," Mr. Seifert said, adding, "The pavilion, yeah, with the tents."

Strangely, there do not seem to be costs from either the hospitality suite or the "beer and brats" event listed in Mr. Ryan's campaign finance disclosures. During our phone conversation yesterday, we asked Mr. Seifert if he could tell us where the expenses for these two events appeared in the disclosure reports. He said he wasn't sure "off the top of my head" but promised to "look into it if you'd like." He also assured us Mr. Ryan’s congressional campaign was operating in accordance with FEC regulations and wasn’t paying for activities associated with the presidential ticket.

“There are two separate campaigns and, as such, all the finances, all the operations are separately done,” said Mr. Seifert.

Since that initial conversation, as of this writing, Mr. Seifert hasn't responded to multiple requests for information on these events and other questions about Mr. Ryan's other RNC expenses.

Mr. Seifert did follow up on our phone call with an email sent yesterday about the charges with the Marriott hotel. Though he initially told us there are only five staffers on Mr. Ryan's congressional campaign, Mr. Seifert said the campaign paid for twenty rooms at the Marriott.

"Ryan for Congress had twenty rooms at the Marriott so staff could have an opportunity to hear Congressman Ryan's keynote address," he said. "The hotel required a five night minimum stay during the convention period and those charges account for the bulk of the spending you referenced."

When we responded asking why so many rooms were purchased, Mr. Seifert sent another email claiming the additional rooms were for "other staff members." He also provided initial information about the campaign's spending at the Hyatt.

"As I said when we spoke, the 5 members of the Ryan for Congress staff were there for the full convention. Other staff members of Congressman Ryan's attended parts of the convention--most notably Congressman Ryan's keynote address," Mr. Seifert wrote. "Ryan for Congress reserved 20 rooms at the Marriott and had a couple rooms at the Hyatt, where the Wisconsin Delegation was staying."

We asked Mr. Seifert for more specific details about who used the rooms, but he hasn't responded to that request. After reviewing his email, we also noticed that the $4,183.20 was identified in the Ryan campaign's disclosure report as having been spent at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay, while the Wisconsin delegation was staying in a different hotel operated by the same chain, the Hyatt Regency Tampa. Based on their own disclosure reports Mr. Seifert's claim Mr. Ryan's congressional campaign purchased rooms at the hotel where the Wisconsin delegation was staying is untrue. Mr. Seifert has also not responded to a request asking for an explanation of this discrepancy.

While it may be theoretically possible the as-yet-unidentified “other staff members” from Ryan’s congressional campaign did in fact use the rooms, it is doubtful so many people were integral to his re-election bid. Additionally, paying for guests or essential staffers to attend the convention simply to view Mr. Ryan's speeches, which were part of his national campaign for the vice presidency, would seem to constitute a clear violation. For example, there was no mention whatsoever of Mr. Ryan's congressional campaign in his keynote speech.

Since we began working on this story, Mr. Ryan's congressional campaign released a new financial disclosure report covering the period from October 1 through October 17. That report contained an additional expense that appears to be connected to the convention. At the start of the month, Mr. Ryan's congressional campaign paid $16,411.36 for "rooms for national convention." The payment was listed as going both to a Virginia-based consulting firm called the Townsend Group and to the Renaissance Tampa International Plaza Hotel. The Renaissance Tampa International Plaza Hotel is approximately six miles from the RNC and, based on Mr. Seifert's descriptions, would not seem to have been associated with the Ryan for Congress hospitality suite or "beer and brats" event, which were both located at the site of the RNC. Mr. Seifert has not responded to a request for information about this expense. We also reached out to the hotel and the Townsend Group, but, as of this writing, we have not received a response.

Jerry Goldfeder is an attorney with the law firm of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP who specializes in election and campaign finance law. We detailed the convention expenditures made by Mr. Ryan's congressional campaign to Mr. Goldfeder and asked whether he thought it seemed like a potentially improper use of campaign funds.

"It sounds as if he used congressional campaign funds for national campaign purposes and that's highly problematic," Mr. Goldfeder said.

The FEC typically investigates possible campaign finance violations only after receiving a complaint. We also asked Mr. Goldfeder whether he thought the RNC spending by Mr. Ryan's congressional campaign would be investigated by the commission.

"If they see it, they will," he said.

Perhaps the person most likely to file an FEC complaint in this instance would be Rob Zerban, Mr. Ryan's Democratic opponent in his House race. When we informed T.J. Helmstetter, a spokesman for the Zerban campaign, about our findings, he said they would wait until they had more information about the situation to file an official complaint. However, he characterized the situation as part of a "pattern of dishonesty" on Mr. Ryan's part.

"It's definitely something that is troubling to us,” he said. “It's not surprising to us given, Paul Ryan's overarching pattern of dishonesty in this race, that something like this could pop up, but we're going to wait until we have all the details before we rush to judgment or jump to file a claim."

Mr. Helmstetter also pointed out that Mr. Ryan has faced allegations that his television ads in the race, which do not all specifically mention his congressional campaign, constitute improper use of campaign funds. He said both the issue of the commercials and the RNC spending raise "very important" questions.

"I think these questions are very important and the Ryan campaign needs to answer them," said Mr. Helmstetter.

Overall, Mr. Helmstetter said Mr. Ryan seems much more focused on his national ambitions than his congressional race against Mr. Zerban, whom the vice presidential candidate has avoided debating thus far.

"Paul Ryan has been as much of an absentee candidate in this race as he's been an absentee congressman for the State of Wisconsin since ascending to the national scene," Mr. Helmstetter said. “His constituents have been paid absolutely zero attention by the Ryan campaign in this race. We believe that Ryan's failure to come back to the district to debate us is yet another signal that he has moved past Wisconsin's First District. He is solely interested in his rising national stature and Ryan no longer has interest in serving the people of Wisconsin."

We contacted the Romney campaign this evening to see if they had any comment on this story. As of this writing, we have yet to receive a response.

A chart showing the results of the Gallup/USA Today poll. (Photo: USAToday.com)

After a new poll out today from Gallup and USA Today showed Mitt Romney pulling ahead of President Barack Obama by strengthening his standing with likely female voters in key swing states, the Obama campaign fired back by releasing a memo written by Josh Benenson of the Benenson Strategy Group consulting firm criticizing "deep flaws in Gallup’s likely voter screen." Tim Miller, deputy communications director at the Republican National Committee, told Politicker the Obama campaign's memo shows they are "panicked" with battleground state polls tightening in the wake of President Obama's widely panned performance in the first presidential debate.

"Since the president’s disastrous debate performance, the panicked Obama campaign’s message has vacillated from Big Bird to false character attacks on Mitt Romney to now nitpicking the crosstabs of bad polls," Mr. Miller said. "Litigating polls won’t help the president fix his two central problems: he can’t defend his economic record and he has offered no plan for getting people back to work in a 2nd term."

Mr. Benenson's memo described the poll showing President Obama and Mr. Romney tied among likely women voters in swing states at 48 percent as an "extreme outlier." Mr. Benenson pointed to other recent polls of the battleground states that have shown President Obama with an average 10.3 percent lead over Mr. Romney and Gallup's data on registered female voters in the battleground states, which shows him leading Mr. Romney 52 percent to 44 percent.

"We believe the problem with Gallup’s outlying data is rooted in their 7 question likely voter screen, which distorts the composition of likely voters, leading to erratic and inaccurate results," Mr. Benenson wrote. "In Gallup’s current survey, Obama leads women by 53-44 among registered voters in the Battleground States, which is closely aligned with results from other pollsters. It is only when the likely voter screen is applied that their results become so out of step."

Mr. Benenson attributed the differences between Gallup's numbers among likely voters and registered voters a bias in the questions asked by the pollsters.

"Several of the likely voter questions create a bias against groups inclined to support Obama," wrote Mr. Benenson. "For example, Gallup asks voters both whether they have voted in their precinct before and where people in their neighborhood go to vote. This creates a bias against registered voters who more likely to move from time to time, such as young voters, renters, minorities and urban dwellers, all of whom tend to lean toward the President."

Mr. Benenson concluded his memo by claiming the tie among likely female voters in the battleground states shows the Gallup poll is "questionable."

"In the past, Gallup’s justification for such outlying numbers is that they are providing a snapshot of voter attitudes during a particular time period, not predicting the outcome of the election. But this implausible result among women appears to not even provide an accurate reflection on the electorate today, making its value questionable," Mr. Benenson wrote.

Prior to the October 3 debate, President Obama was enjoying a wide lead in many swing state polls. The next presidential debate will take place tomorrow at Hofstra University in Hempstead.

Reince Priebus. (Photo: Twitter)

This morning, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus held a press conference call to discuss Vice President Joe Biden's comment that middle-class Americans have been "buried the last four years." He also talked about his view that, despite poor poll numbers in the swing states, Mitt Romney has a path to winning the 270 electoral college votes necessary to defeat President Barack Obama, and he gave the RNC's take on footage of an old speech by the president that resurfaced on conservative media outlets last night.

Mr. Priebus said he agreed with Vice President Biden that the middle class has been "buried" during the first four years of the Obama administration.

"Obama and Biden have buried the middle class, and now they want to bury them some more," said Mr. Priebus. "I mean, just imagine what Barack Obama would do. He buried us economically in this country knowing that he would have to face re-election. Just imagine what he would do with nothing but daylight in front of him. Just imagine where this economy would go."

He went on to discuss Mr. Romney's economic policies, which he said would improve the country's financial situation.

"Getting our economy back on track, getting Obamacare off the books, reducing spending in Washington, cutting small business taxes, getting Keystone pipeline started and exploring energy across America is just the start. And that's the Romney/Ryan plan to save this country today," said Mr. Priebus. "We need a new direction. Joe Biden admits it, the American people know it and, thankfully, Mitt Romney has a plan to take us there."

Polls have increasingly been showing President Obama pulling ahead, specifically in Ohio. However, Mr. Priebus said he believes the Buckeye State is "extremely close." He's also confident the GOP has the ground game necessary to get a win for Mr. Romney.

"That's the one thing that I think that is a narrative out there that I just think is blatantly uninformed, which is the fact that the Democrats have this great ground game. I think we're going to crush the Democrats on the ground," Mr. Priebus said. "I just don't think they've got a very good ground game. I've looked through it, I've seen it. It's all smoke and mirrors. It's a lot of talk, but when you go around the neighborhood and you look at who's getting absentee ballots in the municipal clerks' offices and you figure out who's hitting their goals, in our case, we've got a sophisticated program around our GOP universe and we check that every single morning with municipal clerks' offices that are hooked up to our system. And I just know that we're better than them on the ground, and I think that we're going to crush them in Ohio."

Ohio isn't the only state Mr. Priebus is optimistic about.

"We have other good things going for us right now as well: Wisconsin, Iowa, Colorado, Nevada. There are other places that we're doing very well in that, quite frankly, we didn't win in ’08 but we're doing better this year," he said. "So, we'll wait and see. We've got it all on the table. Ohio is, of course, extremely important. It's nothing new, but I also see avenues to 270 opening up for Mitt Romney in places that weren't there in ’08."

Mr. Priebus concluded the call by answering a question about a video of a speech President Obama made at Hampton University in 2007 in which he acknowledged the controversial Reverend Jeremiah Wright and criticized the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina as evidence of racism. The speech was covered by the media when it first occurred, but it was heavily hyped last night by Fox News and the conservative websites Drudge Report and The Daily Caller, which argued it "escaped scrutiny" in 2007. The DNC sent an email last night describing the resurfacing of the video as "lame" and "desperation tactics." For his part, Mr. Priebus said he believes "people are going to draw their own conclusions from the video."

"Clearly, I know that some people are pretty troubled by it, but, you know, the fact of the matter is people have to watch that video on their own and draw their own conclusions," he said. "I think that President Obama's views shape his policies and his policies, in turn, are having a very negative impact on our economy. I don't believe that government is the solution to our problems in this country. I think free enterprise is the solution to the problems in our country. I don't think handouts are the solution to our problems in this country."

Attendees at the Democratic National Convention (Photo: Getty)

CHARLOTTE, NC -- Though the GOP made sure to showcase a diverse group of speakers at the Republican National Convention last week, Democrats have boasted their confab in Charlotte was far more diverse than the Republicans' confab. Rather than take those claims at face value, we reached out to both parties to see how many minority delegates attended each of the conventions. 

We were unable to get a definitive answer because a Republican Party official told us they had no information about the number of minority delegates who attended their convention in Tampa last week.

"I've asked for those numbers and my understanding is we don't have them," Republican National Committee Press Secretary Kirsten Kukowski said.

On the other hand, Democratic National Convention staff informed us that 40 percent of the approximately 5,600 delegates and 500 alternates at the DNC were minorities. Specifically, 27 percent of the delegates were African American and 13 percent were Latino. Statistics were not available for other groups.

Republicans may have good reason for not being more concerned about whether their convention had a diverse group of delegates. Polls show President Barack Obama is dominating Mitt Romney among minority voters. Though Mr. Romney seems to have enjoyed a small post-RNC bump among Latinos, polls show over two out of three Latino voters support President Obama and a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showed Mr. Romney is supported by zero percent of African American voters.

Donna Brazile (Photo: Getty)

CHARLOTTE, NC -- First Lady Michelle Obama spoke to the African American Caucus at the Democratic National Convention this morning. Prior to Ms. Obama's speech, the audience heard from Democratic National Committee Vice Chair Donna Brazile and Virgie Rollins, chairwoman of the Black Caucus. The two women mocked the absence of racial diversity and dance skills they saw on display at last week's Republican National Convention in Tampa.

"The other side, when you saw their African American delegates, they were a little bit lacking weren't they?" Ms. Rollins said after noting that this year's Democratic convention is hosting the largest delegation in the history of the Black Caucus.

When it was Ms. Brazile's turn to speak she began by speaking to the empty chair next to her in a spoof of actor Clint Eastwood's RNC speech.

"They told us when we got in this morning to get in quickly and take your seat and I just want to let my seat know I'll be right back," she joked to huge laughs from the crowd.

Ms. Brazile went on to discuss how Ms. Obama got the audience "on our feet" with her convention speech last night. She assured the audience that Bill Clinton and the other speakers on this evening's convention schedule would also have the crowd "stomping your feet," something she said she didn't witness at last week's RNC.

"I was at the Republican Convention last week and nobody could get down. I went down there one day, they were playing some of the Motown. I said, 'Can you all just move?' They're sitting there like this," Ms. Brazile said making a stiff, still pose.

In contrast, Ms. Brazile said, at the DNC, "last night you all had it down."

Politicker actually witnessed some dancing when we were at the RNC last week. However, we're not remotely qualified to judge the quality of the Republican delegates' dance moves.

Mitt Romney on stage at the RNC. (Photo: Getty)

TAMPA, FL -- It's fitting that one of the most enduring images of the 2012 Republican National Convention was Clint Eastwood's empty chair, since the main purpose of the confab was crowning Mitt Romney as the titular leader of the party, finally filling the seat of GOP power that has remained more or less vacant since John McCain was vanquished by President Barack Obama four years ago.

As the saying goes, when you play the game of thrones, you either win or you die. After his defeat in 2008, Mr. McCain didn’t even bother joining the primary combatants vying to lead the elephant herd into battle against President Obama in this year's race. His second, Sarah Palin, didn't have a place in the primaries or at the convention in Tampa. Instead, she was banished to her Facebook page, where she railed against her overlords at Fox News for canceling all of her scheduled appearances, in which she’d hoped to take to the airwaves in praise of Mr. McCain on the night of his RNC cameo.

Like any coronation, last week’s convention was supposed to be a time for Mr. Romney's fellow Republicans to rally around him and march into combat by his side. However, the ascent of the House of Romney was accomplished without the blessing of the conservative and libertarian factions of the party. As a result, Tampa became a theater for the sorts of behind-the-scenes drama, intrigue and power plays that so often accompany these matters of dynastic succession. Though ostensibly acting as standard bearers for Mr. Romney, the other lords of the GOP seemed to be more interested in plotting their own ascendancies four years from now than in following Mitt into battle against President Obama.

Mr. Romney’s erstwhile primary rival, Rick Santorum, took the stage Tuesday night to deliver a speech that movingly detailed his own family history while pausing to mention the nominee by name just three times. The following night, when Mr. Romney’s running mate, Paul Ryan, addressed the convention, Mr. Santorum didn’t even show up. Rather, he could be found in the CNN Grill, a makeshift restaurant set up by the cable news network outside the RNC proceedings, where he dined with his family and top aides.

And then there was New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s keynote address. Mr. Christie reportedly declined an offer to serve as Mr. Romney’s running mate because fundraising rules would have forced him to relinquish his governorship in order to maximize potential presidential campaign contributions—and because he doubted Mr. Romney’s chances in November.

On Wednesday, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, son of Texas Congressman Ron Paul, another former rival of Mr. Romney’s, offered some remarks before the RNC attendees in which he invoked Mr. Romney’s name just once. The inclusion of the younger Mr. Paul, and a tribute video hailing his father, were reportedly efforts to placate their fervent supporters, the Paulites. No such luck. Despite these displays of graciousness, the Paulites repeatedly disrupted Mr. Romney’s coronation by staging dramatic walkouts and regularly shouting for both Paul the father and Paul the son during the festivities.

On the final night of the convention, Florida Senator Marco Rubio introduced Mr. Romney. He dutifully named the candidate six times, however, Mr. Rubio’s rousing speech left many observers wondering why he’d been passed over for the veep spot and where he'll be four years from now. (Several commentators compared his prime-time address to Mr. Obama’s star turn during the 2004 DNC.) Mr. Rubio possesses three things Mr. Romney lacks: relative youth, a gift for public speaking and the admiration of the Republicans’ Tea Party faction. This trio of political advantages may have made it impossible for Mr. Rubio not to upstage the man he was meant to introduce and, indeed, from the convention floor it seemed his speech engendered a far more electric response from the crowd than Mr. Romney’s.

Even Mr. Ryan, the most important member of Mr. Romney’s court, didn’t focus his convention address entirely on the campaign message. Mr. Romney has disavowed the budget proposal that had become Mr. Ryan’s signature in Washington and was initially adopted by his fellow Republican lawmakers, but there was the vice presidential candidate on stage casting a discordant note by touting the “good-faith reforms and solutions equal to the problems” that he and the congressional Republicans proposed for the budget.

What the speeches largely had in common was that they promised an election victory and a subsequent renaissance for the American kingdom following the dark ages of the financial crisis. These optimistic orations were offered within a fortress of metal gates and concrete barriers guarded by a massive contingent of police officers, Secret Service agents and National Guardsmen. Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, who has served in the halls of government since 1977, told The Observer the security surrounding the convention “event zone” was unprecedented.

“I’ve been to ten of these, I’ve never had as much trouble getting around as I have here,” the old lawmaker said. “It’s a different world right now. Terrorism and all these other things are scaring everybody to death.”

Indeed, outside the fortified ramparts of the convention, many of the forces threatening the Republican Party were amassed—shouting, chanting and otherwise calling for Mr. Romney’s head on a pike. The delegates and other RNC attendees run a gauntlet of these fearsome creatures, including disgruntled Paulites, Occupiers and religious zealots. One group we saw was led by a fiery preacher named Ruben Israel, who brandished a pair of the sacred temple garments worn by members of the Mormon Church.

“This is the holy underwear that Mitt Romney wears,” Mr. Israel shouted through his megaphone. “You going to vote for a guy that puts this stuff on? You going to think that God is going to honor this?”

Though small groups of demonstrators managed to infiltrate the Forum and briefly interrupt the speeches made by both Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan, they failed to halt the proceedings. However, they were a troubling indicator that, whomever wins the election in November, winter may be coming for the Republican Party as internal discord on the right wing mounts. Could it be that some of those who are supposed to rallying behind the nominee believe they could do a better job fending off the impending threats to the party than the current candidate? Whether due to such calculations or to cold ambition, there was a palpable sense in Tampa that many of the high-profile leaders assembled for the convention were more concerned with their positioning for 2016 than they were with Mr. Romney's race.

In spite of this potentially toxic cloud of competing interests and aspirations swirling around Mr. Romney's coronation, the ceremony was not without its revelries and feasting. On the convention floor, the attendees seemed unaware of any discord and cheered each time a speaker uttered the party's newly-minted credo, “We Built That!” After each day's convention activities concluded, hordes of delegates, elected officials and their chroniclers, the political press corps, mingled and imbibed at a series of invite-only parties scattered across Tampa.

Along with these fetes for the standard convention crowd, there was also a parallel convention of sorts for the elite megarich donors who have been fueling those conservative super PACs, complete with private parties, concerts and an exclusive event on board a yacht during which backers schmoozed with Mr. Romney’s close relatives. One set of events aimed at women took place in a pavilion temporarily named for Dr. Miriam Adelson, the wife of Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who has pledged to give over $70 million to Republican groups in this election cycle.

In this election, President Obama has raised about eighty percent more in traditional campaign contributions for his war chest than Mr. Romney has. This cash imbalance means the Republicans’ dream of seeing their party’s rulers retake the White House is entirely reliant  on the largesse of extremely wealthy individual super PAC donors. With the GOP’s presidential prospects dependent on these moneyed moguls, those who took the stage at the convention itself could be seen as merely pawns with the real kings of the party operating behind the scenes.

On the floor on Thursday, the final night of the convention, we spoke with one of the most controversial conservative kingmakers, David Koch, who along with his brother, Charles, owns what is reportedly America’s second largest privately held company and has pumped an estimated $400 million into this election. Mr. Koch, who was attending as a member of the New York State delegation, dismissed criticism of the influence he and his fellow megadonors have begun to exercise on the nation’s political process.

“We have a free society and people are free to do what they want, you know, as long as they don’t hurt others and they obey the law,” Mr. Koch said. “So, I believe in free speech and if people want to spend money in politics or something else, it’s their right, nothing wrong with that. So, I endorse that.”

Not long after, Mr. Romney made his way to the stage to deliver a speech that would be the convention’s grand finale. As he waded through the crowd shaking hands, the candidate paused briefly by the New York delegation, clasped Mr. Koch’s hand, grabbed his shoulder and exchanged a few pleasantries.

It’s good to be the king. The question was just which man held the title.

Mitt Romney on stage at the RNC (Photo: Getty)

TAMPA, FL -- Mitt Romney is currently on stage at the Republican National Convention. During his speech, a group of protesters attempted to interrupt the proceedings by shouting from the seats above the convention floor. Audience members drowned them out with chants of, "USA! USA! USA!"

Politicker was unable to hear the protesters from our spot on the convention floor, but, according to journalist Andrew Coyne, they were waving pink banners and shouting, "People over profits!" The protesters were quickly removed by security personnel. Dan Libit of the Daily said the protesters were affiliated with the activist group Code Pink, which staged a similar interruption during Paul Ryan's speech yesterday.

After the outburst, we ran off the floor to see if we could find those responsible for the interruption. When we reached the area where they had been taken out, an employee of the Tampa Bay Times Forum, where the convention is being held, told us there were three protesters who were "taken out" one of the exits by security.

We attempted to walk outside the exit, however a man blocked out way and said, "You're not going downstairs." Another official later informed us the man was a "sergeant-at-arms" for the RNC.

Update (11:45 p.m.): Code Pink claims four "activists" were involved in the protest. We spoke to an RNC attendee who said he was seated near the interruption. He told us he was unable to read the banner held by the protesters.

"All I could see was pink," he said.

David Koch (Photo: Getty)

TAMPA, FL -- Billionaire Republican megadonor David Koch, who, along with his brother, Charles, is pumping an estimated $400 million into this presidential campaign, talked to Politicker about the controversial level of influence major contributors have on American elections in an interview on the floor of the Republican National Convention a few moments ago.

"We have a free society and people are free to do what they want, you know, as long as they don't hurt others and they obey the law," Mr. Koch said. "So, I believe in free speech and if people want to spend money in politics or something else, it's their right, nothing wrong with that. So, I endorse that."

Mr. Koch is a member of the New York delegation at the RNC. Our last efforts to interview him were not exactly successful. Since he seemed much more talkative this evening, we also asked Mr. Koch what he thought of the excerpts of Mitt Romney's upcoming convention speech that have been distributed by the Romney campaign. Mr. Koch told us he hadn't seen the excerpts, so we showed them to him on our iPhone. After skimming through the text of the speech, Mr. Koch gave us his take on Mr. Romney's remarks.

"I'm sure that his speech will be very warm, very inclusive and very positive," said Mr. Koch. "I think his speech will be very inclusive, very positive and very uplifting. I'm sure that's the way it will be."

Piers Morgan manning his Twitter feed at the RNC.

TAMPA, FL -- Sarah Palin took to Facebook yesterday to accuse Fox News of canceling all of her scheduled appearances on the network during the Republican National Convention, but CNN host Piers Morgan said he'd be glad to have her on his show during the RNC festivities. However, Mr. Morgan said Ms. Palin, who has a contract with Fox News through January, has yet to take him up on his invitation.

"I'm serious, if she's fallen out with Fox, I'd love to get her on. It's the one reason we haven't had her since I've been on air, because of her contract with Fox," Mr. Morgan told Politicker at the CNN Grill at the RNC last night. "Clearly, if she's had an issue with them and can now do us, I'd love to interview her."

Mr. Morgan made his initial entreaties to Ms. Palin on Twitter last night and said he is "pushing hard" to make an interview with the former vice presidential candidate happen.

"I see a chink in the armor," said Mr. Morgan with a laugh.

Stephen Baldwin (Photo: Getty)

TAMPA, Fla. -- If outspoken actor Alec Baldwin runs for mayor in New York, his little brother, Bio-Dome star Stephen Baldwin, would vote for him. However, the younger Baldwin sounded decidedly unenthusiastic about the prospect of his sibling in City Hall when we asked him about it outside the CNN Grill at the Republican National Convention yesterday.

"I really wouldn't have much of a choice. Would I? Being a New York resident and he's big bro, so yeah, he gets my vote," Stephen said.

Stephen Baldwin is a self-proclaimed "Jesus freak evangelical charismatic born again conservative independent," with far different political views than his notoriously liberal brother. Because of this, Stephen initially suggested he might run against his brother when word got out that the elder Baldwin was considering running for mayor.

A few months after his mayoral ambitions were first revealed, Alec said he would sit out the 2013 mayoral election in order to film the most recent season of NBC's 30 Rock and enroll in a master's degree program "to help me better understand what the fiscal imperatives of that job are." According to Stephen, his brother absolutely still has his eye on City Hall.

"I definitely think he's interested at some point in the future, just the question would be when. He's newly married now, so I think he's trying to just relax and enjoy himself," Stephen said.