The Sunlight Foundation is tracking the other kind of political parties.

On its new "Political Party Time" Web site, the open government advocacy group is tracking invitations to fundraisers for members of Congress.

For example, U.S. Sen. Richard Burr held a "Breakfast with Burr" this morning at a Washington, D.C., Krispy Kreme. Snagging a seat at the sugar-coated table cost political action committees $500, or they could pay $1,000 to be a host.

Individual attendees were encouraged to pay "whatever you can afford."

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, meantime, favors Charlie Palmer's steakhouse. Receptions to benefit her have been held there on April 24, July 20, July 30 and Aug. 5 of this year. Hosts have included former Sen. Lauch Faircloth, Sen. Jon Kyl and the International Paper PAC.

For a complete list, click here. 

What would a YouTube legislature look like?

Virginia is about to find out. Using a $2,500 grant from the Sunlight Foundation, the nonprofit Richmond Sunlight Web site will purchase the closed-circuit video of an entire legislative session.

The video will then be converted to QuickTime, posted on the online video-sharing site YouTube on a daily basis and integrated into the nonprofit's Web site. 

Once on YouTube, the videos will be available for embedding on any blog or Web site anywhere with minimal effort—opening the doors to the legislature 24/7 from now until forever.

In recent weeks, both Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Graham and the state NAACP have called for legislative Webcams. 

The Virginia experiment shows that's a less expensive proposition than you might think.

The Sunlight Foundation has a checklist for online sunshine.

The goals were developed as part of its Open House Project, which aims to make the U.S. House of Representatives more available online. But they would be a good starting point for any such effort.

"These kinds of principles could work at a state legislature as well," said spokeswoman Gabriela Schneider.

The checklist is a little jargon-heavy, so here's a rough translation of a few goals: Do not use proprietary computer formats, broadcast committee meetings, require disclosure reports be filed electronically and create a verification system for archived records.

While Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Graham and the head of the state NAACP have called for legislative webcams, the Sunlight Foundation also calls for the video to be archived as well.

Currently, the state legislature offers streaming audio, but it does not provide archives. (Savvier computer users can use programs like Audio Hijack to record proceedings, however.)