WASHINGTON - Sometimes it’s just best not to party hard — like when the government is stepping in to prevent you from going belly up.
 
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage giants that are in deep financial trouble amid the U.S. housing crisis, have decided to bow out of some lavish parties being thrown at the upcoming Democratic and Republican conventions, where presidential candidates are annointed by their respective parties.
 
“As a result of current market conditions and financial considerations, Freddie Mac has withdrawn from participating in both the Republican and Democratic conventions,” said spokesman Douglas Duvall.
 
Ditto for Fannie Mae.
 
Paying to wine and dine Democratic Party activists in Denver and Republicans in Minneapolis may have been too seamy weeks after Congress passed legislation providing emergency financing to Freddie and Fannie, as they’re lovingly known in Washington.
 
If things go well with the bailout, U.S. taxpayers will escape footing the bill. If not, the rescue could end up costing anywhere from $25 billion to more than $100 billion, according to government estimates.
 

Even before the government stepped in, the two mortgage giants were being criticized by some members of Congress for spending too much money lobbying in Washington.
 One watchdog group, the Center for Responsive Politics, says Fannie Mae spent nearly $3 million lobbying so far this year, while Freddie Mac shelled out nearly $4.5 million.
 
The mortgage twins also are top banking industry contributors to U.S. political campaigns, according to CRP.

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Photo credits: Top: Reuters/Larry Downing (Sign at Freddie Mac headquarters in McLean, Virginia); Bottom: Reuters/Rick Wilking (Pepsi Center in Denver, site of the Democratic National Convention Aug. 25-28)