DENVER PROSTITUTES JEALOUS OF MINNEAPOLIS-ST PAUL PROSTITUTES-- REPUBLICANS (AND COMPUTER GEEKS) HIRE MORE HOOKERS

Today's Rocky Mountain News has a different kind of political story-- although in a year when otherwise unremarkable backbenchers of little accomplishment and no other claims to fame-- like David Vitter (R-LA), Ted Klaudt (R-SD) and Larry Craig (R-IN) and have become well known for their grotesque sexual peccadilloes... well, there is a little bit of life imitating art here. Denver's "sex and adult entertainment industries are expecting a boom in business when an estimated 35,000 visitors descend on the Mile High City for the presidential nominating bash."

More than six months before the convention comes to Denver, the offerings already online range from Claudia the "she-male porn star" to Erin the "adorable college cutie," whose $300- an-hour services are guaranteed to "leave you breathless."

Surprised?

Don't be.

Denver is, after all, home to Mike Jones, the beefy male prostitute who claimed to have bedded the [still suffering] Rev. Ted Haggard in his Capitol Hill apartment.

Jay Watson, who promises an unforgettable milk bath and lotion massage for $125 an hour, said he's expecting to be busy during the DNC Aug. 25-28.

Why?

"Because look at me," said Watson, a 25-year-old Aurora man with a Mohawk. "I'm cute. I'm sexy and I deliver it all."

Too bad for Watson and others like him that Denver didn't land the GOP convention instead, said Carol Leigh, a San Francisco prostitute "over 50" who has traveled to previous Democratic conventions in Los Angeles and Atlanta.

"It would be a lot better for the sex workers if it was the Republican convention," she said. "We get a lot more business. I don't know if they're just frustrated because of the family values agenda," she said.

When the Republican convention was held in New York in 2004, some sex workers offered limited-time discounts, according to New York Magazine, which ran a feature story titled "The Girls in Their Summer Hot Pants."

Officer Ana Aguirre, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles police, which hosted the DNC in 2000, said there's "definitely a spike" in prostitution during large events like political conventions.

In Denver, said police spokesman Sonny Jackson, "We're preparing to handle a variety of issues that may come up."

Even though they attract a lot of people, political conventions aren't the most profitable for the men and women in the world's oldest profession, Leigh said.

"Computer conventions can be lucrative," she said. "There's a lot of nerds that don't get out much."

More nerdy than male prostitute connoisseur Patrick McHenry (R-NC) or than Mike McCaul (R-TX), who only goes to conventions so he can get out from under his wife's-- the boss's daughter's-- thumb and live it up a little?

Paul Ryan Ready For Real People? Probably Not... But Tampa Should Be Fine

After having banned most Republican stars from the Tampa convention stage-- from Palin, Bachmann, New and Santorum to Ron Paul, who's retiring and practically begged Romney twice for a chance to say good-bye-- the Romney campaign announced yesterday that Chris Christie will give the keynote and that Marco Rubio will introduce Mitt. A Koch brother is a delegate and will mingle with his subjects. This is shaping up to be a real snoozefest-- although Tampa health officials are bracing for a possible outbreak of sexually transmitted diseases.

Prostitution in the Tampa Bay area is expected to increase during the Republican National Convention. But will that lead to the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases?

We asked that question of a county health official, a high-end escort, and an academic expert. The answer is complicated.

..."Mary" isn't taking any chances. The high-end escort from Tampa has a plan.
Before she even meets her clients, she has a good idea of who they are.

"I want to talk to these people. I want to know who I'm seeing, why I'm seeing them," she says.

But what a simple screening doesn't reveal is whether they have a sexually transmitted disease-- a risk factor that is not lost on Mary. 

"There is no safe sex, there's safer sex, I mean you can get sick from drinking after someone, let alone kissing them!”

It's a job hazard that has her taking steps to keep herself safe. 

"I get tested. And a lot of my girlfriends do too," she says.

But long before it even gets to that point, she protects herself. 

"Condoms, condoms, condoms, condoms, condoms, condoms, female condoms, male condoms, dental dams, condoms…what else? Condoms," she says.

Back to that question-- do political conventions lead to the spread of STDs?

Researcher Scott Cunningham, a professor at Baylor University, says the risk seems to depend on the type of prostitute sought and who is seeking them.

"It would be like saying there is such thing as a car, and you treat the car market as if there is just one thing," he says.

First of all, clients at the RNC may be different than at an event like the Super Bowl.

"That's where the public health question becomes a little bit more complicated,” he says, “if you are bringing in a lot of young men who are drinking a lot to a sports event, I think you have more reason to think they might be transmitters of STDs.”

He says that’s because these men are more likely to contact higher risk prostitutes-- women who may take on more clients and be less likely to use protection.

Through his research, Cunningham has found that the clients at political conventions tend to be older men who are more likely to hire high-end escorts.

And Tampa's 50 strip clubs are expecting a bonanza from Republican delegates, who, the club owners say, drop three times more cash on hookers and booze, etc than Democrats do.

“The average was $150 for Republicans and $50 for Democrats.”

As further evidence of the clubs’ nonpartisan appeal, Don Kleinhans, the owner of the 2001 Odyssey, said when the Promise Keepers, a male evangelical group, came to town years ago, business was rollicking.

“We had phenomenal numbers all weekend, and they walked in wearing badges and name tags and weren’t shy at all,” he said.

There's even a Sarah Palin impersonator, Lisa Ann (from the popular porn flic, Who's Nailin' Paylin?), appearing at a top strip club, Thee Dollhouse on August 24 and 25. And the gigantic Republican closet case contingent-- from relatively open gays like Lindsay Graham, David Dreier and Aaron Schock, to deeply closeted freaks like Patrick McHenry and Trent Franks. Words of wisdom from Republican pedophile and former Florida Congressman Mark Foley:



But political junkies are much more interested in knowing what went on behind the scenes in Romney's terrible running-mate choice than what goes under between the sheets between hypocritical Family Values Republicans. For example, the NY Post reported that keynoter Christie could have had the VP nomination... if he was only willing to resign as governor. That doesn't ring true but Joe Hallett 's analysis/Op Ed in Sunday's Columbus Dispatch about how Portman lost the nomination does. Hallett, the dean of Ohio political writers, thinks Romney may have blown the election by passing over Portman for the more controversial Ryan.

[I]n bypassing Portman for Ryan, the Republican presidential candidate made a big mistake. Paul Ryan doesn’t get Mitt Romney anything he already won’t get.

Portman, after all, made so much more sense as the GOP veep candidate. He could have been announced during Romney’s bus tour through Ohio this week.

It appears, though, that Romney kowtowed to his party’s far-right flank, selecting Ryan to appease the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal and the ultra-right-but-rarely-right William Kristol of the Weekly Standard. They pulled hammies last week doing cheerleading jumps for Ryan.

Romney, they opined, needs an uncompromising advocate for conservative principles such as Ryan to consolidate the GOP’s base and present an economic vision totally different from President Barack Obama’s. Never mind, they argued, that Obama would use Ryan’s draconian budget proposal to scare seniors-- he would do that whether or not Ryan was on the ticket.

Rest assured now that Obama will tie Romney to the budget Ryan proposed as House Budget Committee chairman, including unpopular cuts to Medicare, and try to demagogue his way to a second term.

Memo to Journal editors and Kristol: Romney doesn’t need a far-right running mate to consolidate the base. The base is consolidated. It is fired up. Obama does that for Romney. Get out of NYC and D.C., come to Ohio, and see for yourselves.

...Portman is not Mr. Excitement, but he exudes a warmness and competence that would have allured presidential-election voters. After evaluating his congressional experience and White House service under both Presidents Bush, voters would have felt comforted knowing that Portman is a No. 2 ready to be No. 1. Ryan doesn’t inspire that confidence.

The last time Ohio had a vice presidential candidate was in 1944. Republican Gov. John W. Bricker helped Thomas Dewey carry the state against Franklin D. Roosevelt by a 0.37 percentage point. Romney just might become president if Portman were to do that for him. Instead, Romney might have blown his best chance to win the most crucial state in the election.

Romney just made becoming president harder for himself.

WHO USES HOOKERS? IT ISN'T ONLY ELIOT SPITZER AND DAVID "DIAPERS" VITTER

Vitter with the other Wendy, not the call girl

It's not just Eliot Spitzer, believe me. According to a new book about the super-rich, The Sky's the Limit by Russ Alan Price, 34% of males who use private jets admit they pay for sex. That would mean about 68% do. (Even 20% of women who use private jets said they paid for sex!) And it isn't just the rich-- although, according to the Wall Street Journal story linked above, the super-rich have screwed up the pricing situation.

At the agency Spitzer was using, the Emperors Club, "escorts charged between $1,000 and $5,000 an hour, depending on their 'rankings.' Clients could also pay between $25,000 and $50,000 for a three-day visit. It may be the world’s oldest profession: but the prices reflect the new realities of wealth."

I was far from rich-- and only 14-- but my first experience with a paid sex worker was on the roof of Atlantic Towers in Brooklyn's Sheepshead Bay area. I doubt Chuck Shumer or Norm Coleman was one of them but 5 or 6 neighborhood guys all chipped in $5 each and we hired an exotic girl from another neighborhood and of another ethnicity. Years later I arrived in India after the better part of a year in Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan-- where one didn't even see a woman. Again, the bunch of guys I was with all kicked in a few rupees, probably considerably less than $5/each and hired a woman. Everyone got a turn in a shower stall and when my turn came I was so grossed out, I passed. I remember not being able to tell if she was 15 or 55 and, although, see seemed perfectly content with her occupation, it felt like exploitation to me. It was nearly 40 years ago and I still recall it vividly and am still glad I never did anything-- although I;m still disconcerted that I didn't get my share of the rupees back.

So, now we know that the super-wealthy-- obsessed, as they are with power and control, and jonesin' for new experiences-- and horny young hippies will pay for sex. What about politicians? Republicans seem to get caught all the time-- David "Diapers" Vitter (R-LA) and Larry Craig (R-ID) being only the most recent examples-- but I'd venture a guess, without feeling that I'm out on a limb, that it's a pretty nonpartisan activity. Although "obsessed with power and control" would probably point in certain directions more than in others.

Today U.S. News & World Report published the most abbreviated list of politicians who have been caught with hookers I've ever seen. Not a mention of any current members of Congress, other than the hapless-- though still serving-- Vitter. Nothing even about Larry Craig, who couldn't always bother trawling for love in public toilets and some times just paid young men.

Recently New York Magazine and the Rocky Mountain News did features on a whole class of prostitutes who work political conventions. They claim the Republican conventions are far more lucrative. One "over 50 year old" sex worker reported that "We get a lot more business. I don't know if they're just frustrated because of the family values agenda." And then there are the constant rumors that at least one Republican congressman, North Carolina's diminutive, far right closet case, Patrick McHenry, is involved with an escort ring even beyond being a customer. But that involves a series of murders and the police closed the cases without investigating. Seems Spitzer was a lot easier target, especially with the help they got from Spitzer nemesis Ken Langone (of Home Depot fame).