From a superbowl to a convention?

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Can hosting the Superbowl give Detroit a leg up on its bid for the 2008 Democratic National Convention? Susan Sherer, executive director of the Super Bowl XL Host Committee, who wrote the winning superbowl bid when she was at the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau, thinks so:

For her part, Sherer thinks the legacy of the Super Bowl -- and the various corporate and government actors it brought together -- will pay off in other events in the future.

"When we get ready to do a Final Four," she says, referring to the NCAA basketball tournament, "we'll be much better equipped. If we decide to have an Olympics bid, we'll be much better equipped.

"And if we decide to go after the 2008 Democratic convention," she says, "we'll be much better equipped."

This is the first news we've seen on a potential Detroit bid. I still believe Detroit will be a major contender for the convention if they decide to bid.

Convention Facility Requirements

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Here's a summary of what the DNC is looking for in a facility for the 2008 Democratic National Convention:

• "Bowl" seating arena of at least 340,000 sq ft, with seating for 25,000
• 100 sky suites
• Minimum of 250,000 sq ft of indoor workspace in immediate proximity to Convention Complex for Media Workspace

We'll discuss other requirements in later posts, and try to analyze if any of the cities bidding for the convention are seriously deficient in any areas.

Why no news on other cities?

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It's been awfully quiet on the convention front. There has been no news of additional cities accepting an invitation to bid on the convention. What suprises me is that you would think most cities would want it public that they are going after the convention - See Denver and Orlando for examples. So why have there been no other news reports of cities accepting the invitation to bid for the convention?

While it's possible that the DNC will release a large list of cities at any time, making this all moot, until then, I wonder if maybe the list of cities that actually want to host the convention is rather small. Hosting political conventions has become a very difficult task, especially with the increased security that is now required. Is it possible that only two cities are even interested in hosting the convention?

Invitation update

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So far Denver and Orlando have accepted the invitation to bid for the convention. That leaves 33 cities left to be heard from.

Orlando accepts invite to bid for the convention

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Orlando has accepted the invitation to bid for the 2008 Democratic National Convention. From the Orlando Sentinel:

Late Thursday, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, a Democrat, sent a letter to his party's chairman confirming the City Beautiful's interest in hosting the 2008 Democratic National Convention. By Friday morning, Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty, a Republican, was announcing his own hope of bringing a convention here -- the Republican National Convention.

"Florida has been on the national stage in presidential politics," Dyer said. "It's only natural that both parties would want to hold conventions in this state."
...
The Democratic National Committee sent letters to about 30 cities in November inviting them to request a bid packet, and Friday was the deadline to make that request. Party officials would not say how many other cities expressed interest in the convention scheduled for the last week in August 2008. Denver's mayor also responded Thursday, and New York is thought to be among the favorites.

Dyer said he asked DNC Chairman and former presidential candidate Howard Dean whether Orlando should bother applying when the two attended the party's state convention here last month. The response was enthusiastic, Dyer said.

Politcally, Orlando would seem like a good choice, given Florida's battleground status. But can we stand all the "Mickey Mouse candidate" references?

And I'm curious as to who believes that "New York is thought to be among the favorites"?

Denver is first to accept invitation

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Denver has accepted an invitation to bid for the 2008 convention. They are the first city to publically announce they will be be bidding for the convention:

Mayor John Hickenlooper today sent a letter to DNC Chair Howard Dean formally indicating that Denver is interested in bidding for the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

From Hickenlooper's letter to the DNC:

As the frontier city for the 21st Century - politically, technologically, and industrially - Denver is proud to accept your invitation to proceed with the bidding process for the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
...
We look forward to bringing the Democratic Party - and the world - to Denver in 2008.

Read more of the letter over at DemNotes. The deadline to accept inivtations to bid for the convention is tomorrow, but no other city has yet publically announced making a bid. Denver clearly has the most momentum behind it at this point.

Invitation acceptance deadline on Friday

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The deadline for cities to accept an invitation to bid for the 2008 Democratic National Convention is this Friday, January 13. While I'll be the first to admit this is not the most newsworthy event happening this week, I find it interesting that I have been unable to find any news on any city either accepting or not accepting the invitation. Atlanta, Detroit, what say you? Denver, New Orleans, are you in the game or not? Houston, New York, what's it gonna be folks, yes or no?

Democratic Underground discussion of convention sites

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Just found this discussion of potential convention sites over at Democratic Underground. Cities mentioned include Atlanta, New Orleans, Indianapolis, Phoenix, Denver, Minneapolis, Miami, and Las Vegas.

Personally, given my comment below about the Republicans going to Anchorage, this comment is one of the best:

You want DARK red? Have it in Alaska! And the candidate gives the acceptance speech with Denali in the background! The roll call is held under the midnight sun! The delegates can catch salmon! The nominee can fly into Fairbanks, have a "whistlestop" tour on the Alaska Railroad down to Anchorage, and then begin the campaign tour by heading down the Inside Passage on the Marine Highway.

Atlanta update

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Andre reports an email he received from David McAuley, the Director of the Washington, D.C. district office of the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau:

I’ve been reading your blog tonight about the DNC 2008, a topic in which I am both personally and professionally interested.... For the most part, I think my bosses fear the enormous cost of hosting the event, and rightfully so. But I am wondering how the local party back home might take on the endeavor.

Andre comments:

Personally, I think that if Mayor Franklin decides to throw Atlanta's hat in the ring for the 2008 Democratic Convention, the Democratic Party of Georgia would almost be obligated to support her and provide whatever support it can to the effort.

Finally, McAuley writes:

Frankly, we might be more ripe to host the RNC.

I don't know - I hear Anchorage is pushing hard for the Republican convention!