Superbowl: Done.... Convention: Next?

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In the wake of the Superbowl, lots of discussion on the web today about Detroit hosting the 2008 Democratic National Convention. The Discuss Detroit message board weighs the pros and cons:

We should definitely bid for a political convention....this is all tourism dollars that our region desperately needs. Money is money. We need to not only bid for large things like that, Super Bowl, etc, but smaller conventions as well. I would imagine since we are now on the map as a fun city, more conventions may be in the works.
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A bid for the Democratic National Convention requires the ability to put many millions in hard cash into DNC coffers, in addition to putting millions of dollars of city services in play. Detroit could not assuredly raise the many millions last time (and so lost the bid to Boston - which also struggled)and has less ability now. Also, a political convention is all about very low hotel rates (as opposed to the Super Bowl) and catered affairs for the delegates (no restaurant effect, then). Couple that with the cash money the DNC demands and the free services the City would have to put out and you have a recipe for disaster.

Also, Metro at his South of 8 Mile blog makes the case:

Detroit has finally proven itself. This city deserves to host the 2008 Democratic convention, for it is ready. Detroit should also go after the summer Olympics if you ask me. Kwame Kilpatric, Roger Penske, all the major corporations, all the local governments, they all pulled together for this event. Detroit has shined like it hasn't shined in decades. The momentum should only build from hear on out, it should be a no holds barred effort to land every major event we can, as we should now be viewed amongst the big players.