Who paid for the conventions? following the money to the Democrats' and Republicans' quadrennial dog-and-pony shows.

• Author: Fisher, Anthony L.

Here's one bright spot in a bleak election year: This summer's Democratic and Republican conventions were not subsidized by taxpayers.

In 2012, the public contributions to those distinguished demonstrations of democracy--the shows where you could see Clint Eastwood hectoring an empty chair or a weepy video tribute to Ted Kennedy--ran upwards of $18.2 million each (not including the cost of security), according to a May 2016 report from the Congressional Research Service. But this year, for the first time since 1972, the parties and their host cities' host committees were on the hook to raise all the money to stage their own four-day infomercials. Under the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act, passed in 2014, funds that once went to subsidize political conventions have been diverted to pediatric health care research.

Supporters of convention subsidies argued--in the words of that Congressional Research Service report--that "conventions had a history of questionable fundraising and that eliminating public funding raised the prospects for real or apparent corruption." Yet corporations have been openly sponsoring the conventions for years, even as public funds were also available. In that context, relying slighdy more heavily on private financing seems a trivial concern.

A more substantial concern, at least for the Republicans, was certain corporations' skittishness about having their brands associated with any event where Donald J. Trump was expected to receive a presidential nomination.

Just days before the RNC began, Politico reported that Republican National Convention (RNC) organizers were so under target they were compelled to write a letter to Sheldon Adelson, begging the casino magnate to close the $6 million gap left by the "more than two dozen prominent corporations and individuals who have reneged on a collective $8.1 million in pledged donations," including Pepsi, Visa, and others. The Atlanta-based soda giant Coca-Cola donated $660,000 to the RNC in 2012, according to The New York Times, and plans to honor the agreement it made last year to supply both conventions with $70,000 in cash and beverages, but has reportedly canceled a $1 million donation for this year's convention.

In June, Apple declined to sponsor this year's GOP convention, with officials privately telling Republicans that Trump's incendiary sexist, racist, and xenophobic comments precluded their participation. According to The Wall Street Journal, Motorola and...