[kiss]
Party Favors - A Novel of Politics and Greed - by Nicole Sexton with Susan Johnston

“[A] tongue-in-cheek novel about the dark underworld of political fundraising.”

—Washington Post

“This is the book on the seamy side of political fundraising, and the politicians those dollars help elect, that no one—I mean no one in either party—wants you to read.”

—Stephen Moore, Political Editor,
Wall Street Journal Editorial Board

Meet Temple Sachet. She’s young, she’s blonde, and she’s got the party planning gene in her blood. Without trying, without even knowing where to start, Temple rocketed to the top of the Republican Party’s fundraising elite, navigating a treacherous community of lobbyists making deals for dollars, gossiping staffers, and child-like senators. And now she has to raise $95 million.

Party Favors gives a deliciously witty peek into the secretive world of political fundraising in D.C. Written by a former Director of Finance for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the novel explores the very real truth that favor means you owe, winning won’t save you, and, ultimately, you will be betrayed.

Party Favors - The Book
Temple Sachet's Fundraising Lingo

A he-ing & she-ing placea pick-up joint.

Capital Grillea he-ing & she-ing place in D.C. where interns meet congressmen.

Become a matronwhen a woman turns off her sex appeal and morphs into the picture of propriety after she lands a politician husband.

Crash & burnera fundraiser who finds a well and dips, dips, dips, hounding contributors till they finally write a check, even just for five dollars, simply to get rid of said fundraiser. These lists must then be burned.

Fortune tellera fundraiser who has had recent success and is much in demand by politicians.

Codingthe identification number on direct mail pieces used to track donations.

Cagingthe system by which the direct mail donation codes are tracked, ensuring that the fundraiser gets his or her share of the donation.

Ten percentthe standard cut fundraisers take off the top of what they raise.

Ninety percentthe standard cut telemarketers take off phone donations.

Clicks (a.k.a. “donor crack”)photos of donors posing with politicians at fundraising events.

Click linethe frenetic hurricane of pushing and pulling, shaking and flashing, donors eagerly endure for their 12 seconds and a click with Someone Important.
 

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Party Dish

NPR - "Books We Like" - Aug. 29, 2008

Mediabistro Galley Cat - Interview - Aug 13, 2008

NY Daily News - Rush & Molloy item - Aug. 4, 2008

New York Observer - Feature - July 30, 2008

Guest of a Guest - Party Photos - July 29, 2008

Good Morning America Now - Online Interview - July 29, 2008

Huffington Post - Mention - July 24, 2008

DC Magazine - Feature Story - July 2008

Wilshire & Washington - Review - July 22, 2008

The Hill - Feature Story - July 21, 2008

Channel 9 TV DC - Interview

Examiner "Yeas and Nays" - Interview - July 3, 2008 

Women Bisnow - Profile - June 24, 2008

Famous DC - Interview - June 19, 2008

Examiner - Interview - May 28, 2008

Politico - Interview - May 6, 2008

Famous DC - Mention - May 6, 2008

Washington Post - Mention - April 10, 2008

The Nation - Interview - April 1, 2008