Tampa Bay strip clubs prepare for Republican Convention with Sarah Palin stripper, online chat rooms

Tampa Bay strip clubs prepare for Republican Convention with Sarah Palin stripper, online chat rooms

One nightspot had a $1 million facelift to get ready for the big event, and some club owners are expecting their business to quadruple while GOP bigwigs are in town.


Republicans won't be starved for adult entertainment options in Tampa Bay.

Family values by day, topless dancers at night?

With high-rolling Republicans flooding into Tampa Bay, Fla., this August for the party's convention, local strip club owners hope many of them spill into their champagne rooms.

The Tampa Bay area boasts more than 40 clubs. Some expect their business to more than quadruple during the massive, four-day Republican National Convention, WFLA-TV reported.

To get a leg up on the competition, some are adding special attractions to help entice GOP bigs.

So while top Republicans work the conventioneers during the day, a Sarah Palin doppelganger will be working the same crowd at night. A strip club called Thee DollHouse, which got a $1 million facelift in advance of the big event, has hired a look-alike - sporting glasses and her trademark updo – to entertain hard-working Republicans after-hours.

Tampa Bay was the setting for the Channing Tatum strip flick, "Magic Mike," but no word on whether a "Magic Mitt" will be entertaining Republican ladies at any of the male clubs.

Another club, 2001 Odyssey, has already been named "one of the Seven Wonders of Tampa Bay," thanks in part to its "World Famous Spaceship VIP Room." But the club is hoping to shoot its profile into the stratosphere with its Club Cam System – a webcam and online chat room that will allow RNC-goers to meet the talent before they head to Tampa.

"Not only can you see the dancers on the stage and in the dressing room, you can also talk to them in an online chat room," club owner Don Kleinhans told WFLA.

Of course, the virtual experience doesn't come cheap. Customers are charged $4 a minute to chat, on top of a $19.95 monthly membership fee.

At least one dancer named Go Go is hoping for a fruitful long-distance correspondence between Tampa Bay and the nation's capital.

"Guys I meet online feel like we have a relationship," Go Go told the station. "If someone came to town, you only had them the short amount of time … and then you had to part ways. And that was it. Now you can still make money off them."