I’m gonna knock on doors all day—and party every night!

Our city, county, and state legislatures are on summer vacation. Last week Governor David Paterson issued a stern warning of a fiscal crisis that threatens to ravage municipal and nonprofit budgets and swallow projects like Buffalo’s school reconstruction program.

Thin times lie ahead. The people’s business is on hold.

But what the hell. It’s the dog days of August, and there’s a major primary election just a month away. Robo-calls and push polls are tangling the phone lines. Operatives are fanning out across Western New York, dropping flyers and knocking on doors. And at banquet halls and taverns, VFW posts and park pavilions, it’s time to party like the political animals we are—to see and be seen, to drink a little too much donated draft beer, to give and extract cash and promises, to spread gossip about candidates and fellow political junkies.

Nearly every night this week, a fat wallet (or a press pass) will buy you admission to a political fundraiser. Here are but a few on the Democratic side:

• If you’re reading this now, you’ve missed the best deal of the fundraising season: Wednesday night’s East Buffalo Democratic Club Annual Beer Blast at Swannie House, just $15 for member and $20 for nonmembers. It’s all uphill from here.

• But you’re not too late to wish happy birthday to Amherst political scion Dan Ward at the Eagle House in Williamsville on Thursday night. Ward is running for the 61st District State Senate seat. This event is a little tonier: $50 if you’re content to be Ward’s “friend,” “$100” if you’d like to be his “good friend,” and $500 if you’re only satisfied with being a “very good friend.” No gifts, please; your presence is gift enough.

• On Tuesday the South Buffalo Democratic machine passes the hat for Erie County District Attorney candidate Frank Sedita III. The hosts at the Irish Center on Abbott Road are Assemblyman Mark Schroeder, County Legislator Tim Kennedy, and Congressman Brian Higgins. A ticket is a mere $25—or $40 for couples, and $99 if you’d like to be listed as a sponsor.

• Wednesday night is a double bill, so watch what you eat at the Snooty Fox, which hosts a do for Lisa Bloch Rodwin, who hopes to be retained as an Erie County Family Court judge. At $99, you may feel compelled to eat whatever’s on the table, maybe even slip something into your pockets to nosh on later. Don’t—settle for a drink or two at the bar.

• Because otherwise you’ll be too full to partake in Erie County Comptroller Mark Poloncarz’s “Cutting Pork” pig roast at Veterans Park in Tonwanda. This runs $30 a head, $50 for couples, and $80 for a family.

That’s a minimum of $200 worth of fun just this week. Access grows pricier later in the month, when Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples holds her Crystal Ball at HSBC Arena (August 16), top-tier gift—$2,500, the “Crystal Level”; and State Senator Antoine Thompson holds fundraisers at the Lafayette Tap Room (August 18) and the Saturn Club (August 28), top-tier gift—$6,000.

—geoff kelly