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In another indication of the seriousness of Minneapolis' bid to host the 2008 Democratic Convention, the Greater Minneapolis Convention & Visitors Association now has a web site helping to promote the bid. The slogan:
Minneapolis 2008 - It was good enough for Hubert Humphrey, Walter Mondale, and Paul Wellstone - how about the DNC?(I don't think the web site is fully functional yet).
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San Antonio has withdrawn its bid to host the 2008 Democratic National Convention: San Antonio officials have ducked out of the beauty contests staged by Democrats and Republicans to determine who will host their 2008 national conventions. Both parties had invited the city to bid on their conventions, but Mayor Phil Hardberger declined this month in a letter to the parties' national committees. "San Antonio is an extremely popular convention destination, and we have many large conventions scheduled for the summer months of 2008," Hardberger wrote. To accommodate either convention, he said, the city would have to find new quarters for nearly 24 conferences, many of them booked by longtime customers. And then there were 8...
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From DemNotes, here's a picture of the items in the gift bags given to people who came to Denver's 2008 Democratic Convention bid party at the Spring DNC meeting. By the way, if you look closely (at DemNotes), you'll see some Minneapolis brochures at the very top of the picture. (Or you will until Dan re-crops the picture!)
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I missed the significance when I wrote up Mike Littwin's column, but this tidbit was there:If New Orleans could be ready by 2008 for a major convention, and if New Orleans doesn't re-elect Mayor Ray Nagin, who brings up major competence issues of his own, Democrats might not be able to resist New Orleans.
I don't think Nagin's re-election would be a showstopper. In fact, you could argue the opposite is true. If Nagin is defeated, he would be the only politician, besides Michael Brown of FEMA, to lose his job due to Katrina, and the GOP could make a big point out of that. But if Nagin wins, especially in the face of a changed electorate, he could argue that the voters have faith in him, and could focus on whatever rebuilding success stories have happened.
But I think the discussion points out the general problem with holding the convention in New Orleans: the past becomes the focal point, and I think the Democrats and their candidate need a convention focused on the future.
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Dan Slater writes up Denver's reception to promote their bid to host the 2008 Democratic Convention: Attendance was phenomenal at the standing-room only event. DNC Members from across the country attended — and were talking about it all day today. Denver was well-represented; both current Mayor John Hickenlooper and former Mayor Wellington Webb joined together to present a great face to the group about why Denver should be the site for the 2008 Democratic National Convention. ... Delegates also enjoyed the nice gift bags from the Denver 2008 folks. Included in the bags were a wooden box of chocolates with the Denver 08 logo, a book by John Fielder, a box of teas from Celestial Seasonings, a Denver lapel pin, a coupon for a free burrito at Chipotle, and several other items. As we prepare to leave New Orleans, I think Denver has gone a long way to ensuring that we’re the top of the list for the National Convention. Folks are now beginning to understand: this could really happen! Last night here in New Orleans was a great night to be a Colorado Democrat. The Denver 2008 Host Committee sponsored a great reception here at the Sheraton in New Orleans for DNC Members.
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Not sure what to make of this one line in the middle of today's NY Times article on the DNC spring meeting:After Louisiana officials thanked the party for holding its meeting here, Mr. Dean suggested that the Democrats return for their nominating convention in 2008.
Without any context, it's difficult to understand what Dean's point was. He may just have been urging New Orleans to put in an official bid in May. I'll look to see if any other papers reported the quote.
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Mike Littwin at the Rocky Mountain News writes up Denver's reception promoting its bid to host the 2008 Democratic Convention: There were giant photos displayed right out of a Colorado travel brochure. Imagine a concert at Red Rocks, Mayor John Hickenlooper told a cheering crowd, which seemed quite enthusiastic. Of course, it might have been the champagne. It might have been the goodies bag. It might have been the door prize: two free United Airlines tickets, which presumably could be used to fly two people to a Denver convention. Most people I talked to here have said Denver was a serious contender. Most put the city in the top three, although it was difficult to pin anyone down as to who the other two might be. Maybe Anaheim. Maybe Vegas. Clearly, though, it's the right time for Denver, which also made a pitch in 2000. "That was a total stretch," said Chris Gates, who was here to make the Denver pitch. "We were telling people how convenient hotel rooms were in Wyoming." ... And the convention could be looking for someplace with FasTracks and a big airport and a newly remodeled convention center and the Pepsi Center and diversity and potential and, well, nobody has to sell you. You already live in Colorado. And you know you can hold a convention these days and no one has to stay in Wyoming. I talked to two Democratic committeemen from Massachusetts who said they were just talking about Denver's chances. Everyone, said David O'Brien, "is high on Denver." He added, "I don't think anyone is putting on a push as strong as Denver is. It has to be one of the front-runners." Or as Norma Flores, of El Paso, Texas, put it, "What could be wrong with Denver? It has so much going for it." If New Orleans could be ready by 2008 for a major convention, and if New Orleans doesn't re-elect Mayor Ray Nagin, who brings up major competence issues of his own, Democrats might not be able to resist New Orleans. If it comes down to a choice between Denver and New Orleans, it would be a choice between competing messages: how to get to the future or how to debate the past. It isn't just what kind of party you want to be. It's also what kind of party you want to throw. I think Littwin gets to a core truth about a New Orleans convention. A convention in New Orleans would bring focus to the past, and I think the Democrats need to focus on the future in 2008.Denver did everything right. There was a great band. There was free food. There was free drink. There was a lot of free food. And a lot of free drink.
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The DNC meeting in New Orleans this week is giving the Democrats a preview of what the press and the GOP reaction could be to holding the 2008 convention there. The DNC has been doing a good job of mixing in community service with their meetings, but the GOP predictably accused the Democrats of "exploiting a human tragedy".
Adam Nagourney in the NY Times has an interesting view of the DNC meeting in New Orleans, and compares it to the GOP convention in New York in 2004. (Bolding is mine):
The whole article is worth reading. I'm sure New Orleans will make the final cut in the bid process if they want to stay in it. But with the image and political impact of New Orleans sure to change over the rest of the year, I still think it's very hard to reach a clear conclusion whether holding the convention in New Orleans makes sense.NEW ORLEANS, April 21 —Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, toured a house on Friday that the Hurricane Katrina floods wrecked, picking up debris, lamenting the federal response and leaving little doubt of the powerful symbolism his party sees in the ruined neighborhoods here.
As Mr. Dean's well-covered hurricane-cleanup mission suggested, New Orleans may well become for Democrats in 2006 and 2008 what New York was for Republicans after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, an evocative metaphor rooted in tragedy that can potentially be turned to electoral advantage.
Where Republicans looked to the imagery of a battered but resilient New York to project a tough president standing up to the dangerous world, Democrats are looking to this city as the symbol of an administration that is at once incompetent and heartless.
...
The Democratic National Committee gathered this week on the edge of the French Quarter for its spring meeting. Talk is in the air of staging the 2008 nominating convention here, though that would require scaling considerable logistical obstacles.
For now, the backdrop has proven politically irresistible to the party. Mr. Dean was one of 100 Democratic committee members who volunteered for community work projects with names like Dems in Blue Jeans, gutting houses, working in parish kitchens and distributing food.
In the Lower Ninth Ward, Mr. Dean put on a white hazardous-materials suit and, more than a little winded, helped gut a house. He needed barely a nudge from reporters to declare the federal effort here a disgrace that would cost Republicans control of the government.
"This is a searing, burning issue," Mr. Dean said, "and I think it's going to cost George Bush his legacy, and it's going to cost the Republicans the House and the Senate and, maybe very well, the presidency in the next election. People will never forget this."
...
"There's no question that it has refocused attention on issues of race and economics and the poor and a number of domestic issues," said Mark McKinnon, who as Mr. Bush's media adviser incorporated Sept. 11 imagery into advertisements for Mr. Bush's re-election campaign. "There's a possibility that New Orleans has transformed the politics of the nation."
Still, the parallels that Democrats are looking for may extend this week just so far. For one factor, Sept. 11 put the entire nation on edge about the threat of terrorism. By contrast, the hurricane catastrophe was confined to one region. As a symbol, it may be powerful, but perhaps not as enduringly powerful as what occurred in New York and at the Pentagon.
As the White House saw in 2004, there are risks to being perceived as manipulating emotional images for political gain. A spokesman for the Republican National Committee, Tracey Schmitt, was quick to accuse Democrats of "exploiting a human tragedy" after learning of Mr. Dean's remarks.
...For all the criticism the White House took for pressing the imagery of Sept. 11 in the political campaign, it never backed down. The party's convention in New York was a nonstop blur of invocations of the attack.
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From Dan Slater's DemNotes:This evening was about the Western Caucus. One of Colorado’s DNC Members, J.W. Postal, who is the Vice-Chair of the DNC’s Western Caucus, did a great job promoting Denver’s 2008 Convention bid to Westerners. At least half of the room was wearing Denver 2008 buttons — probably close to 2/3 of the room. We continue to be highly visible here in terms of promoting Denver for the 2008 convention. Only one other city is doing much in New Orleans to promote itself — Minneapolis. Both Denver and Minneapolis have booths in the registration area, and Minneapolis is hosting a breakfast for delegates on Saturday. Denver is hosting a party tomorrow (Friday) night, and the buzz has already started about how great our promotional effort has been (California’s Christine Pelosi — yes, she has a kinda’-famous mom — mentioned to me tonight that she still uses the Denver pen that we handed out in Phoenix in December). Orlando’s folks had originally scheduled a reception for this evening, but backed out of that at the last minute.
It wasn't clear if Pelosi was wearing a Denver button, but it's interesting in light of Anaheim also bidding to host the convention. I would be interested in knowing if any of the Nevada or California attendees were wearing Denver buttons - that wouldn't be a good sign for the bids from Anaheim or Las Vegas.
Update: A source tells me that the Aleita Huguenin, chair of the DNC Western Caucus, from San Francisco, was wearing a Denver button while she was chairing the meeting. That doesn't bode well for an Anaheim bid.
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From the AP:
Also, representatives from two major cities -- Denver and Minneapolis -- lobbying to host the Democratic convention in August 2008 plan events to drum up support. Orlando, Fla., initially had scheduled an evening reception but canceled it before the meeting began.And then there were 9?
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Just a reminder to keep an eye on Colorado Democratic State Party First Vice Chair Dan Slater's blog, DemNotes, as he writes on his delegation's trip to New Orleans to attend the spring DNC meeting, and to promote Denver's bid to host the 2008 Democratic Convention. His first post on his initial thoughts on New Orleans is up, and I'm sure he'll have lots of good information over the next few days.
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Looks like Phoenix is really looking towards 2012, and just requested the 2008 Democratic Convention RFP for information purposes only. Scott Phelps of the Office of the Mayor in Phoenix stated in a March 2006 e-mail:"I think 2012 is more in line with our plans." He added, "I think we almost always ask for RFPs like this. We are the 5th largest city in the country, after all. Even when you are not proposing, seeing what the expectations are, what the requirements are, help you make a thoughtful proposal when you're ready -- as I believe we will be in 2012."
And then there were 10...
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Following up on last week's post about Orlando being very worried about the costs of hosting the 2008 Democratic Convention, comes this quote, from Democracy in Action 2008, from Heather Allebaugh, Constituent Correspondent, City of Orlando, Office of the Mayor:"At this time both City and County staff are reviewing the bids. Based on the due diligence done to this point, it looks like the hill might be a little steeper than anticipated. We are still analyzing various components of the bid and expect to come to a decision soon."
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer used that same steep hill metaphor last week. Strange talking points for a city hosting a bid reception at the DNC meeting this week.
Update: Orlando has canceled their reception.
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The DNC is holding their regular spring meeting in New Orleans starting on Thursday, April 20. Orlando (Thursday evening), Denver (Friday evening), and Minneapolis (Saturday morning) are hosting receptions in support of their 2008 Democratic Convention bids. However, the DNC notes:There are also a number of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners hosted by cities hoping to provide the site for the 2008 Democratic Convention, which might be interesting to some out there.
Since I think that last comment refers to most readers of this blog, I'll note that none of the known receptions are lunches, so there may be some other host city receptions that we're not aware of yet.
We have some readers who will be attending the DNC meeting this week, so feel free to post any comments, or alternatively, email me your reviews of the receptions and I'll post them for you, anonymously if requested.
This is the first big, public event in the bid competition, so it will be interesting to see how it goes.
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News has come out which is sure to put a damper on Orlando's reception at the DNC Spring meeting in New Orleans next week. The Orlando Sentinel reported today that Orlando may pull their bid due to the high costs of hosting the 2008 Democratic Convention. Some key details from the article:The cost of hosting a national political convention in 2008 is so astronomical that Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer may pass on the chance, officials said Wednesday. The mayors learned Wednesday that their already high estimates of about $78 million to put on a four-day convention weren't nearly high enough. The total could actually well surpass $100 million.
Orlando was already at a big disadvantage as they were proposing the Orlando Convention Center as the facility to begin with. I wrote back in February:
Among the expenses: building a 15,000-seat arena, complete with skyboxes, inside the Orange County Convention Center -- then tearing it down after the politicos leave town. Estimated cost: $15 million. And that's just to start. "That's $15 million for four days of use," Crotty said. "There's no final answer yet, but the hill turns out to be a little bit steeper of a climb than we first thought."If Orlando is offering the Orange County Convention Center as the venue, they're going to have a problem with the Democratic bid. The DNC has clearly stated that they require a "bowl arena with seating for 25,000". The Democrats haven't been in a "convention hall" setting since San Francisco in 1984, and they don't want to go back. There's less seating, bad sightlines for any far-away seats, and no existing skyboxes to entertain the VIPs.
I didn't even mention the additional cost of putting an "arena" inside a convention center. Back to the Sentinel article:Crotty's chief of staff and others on a local GOP planning committee attended a workshop Tuesday in Washington, D.C., where Republican organizers briefed potential host cities about their needs.
I'm sure the Democrats would want the same.
Both parties have a long list of requirements, including enough hotel rooms and convention space to accommodate more than 35,000 party delegates and political and business heavyweights, along with thousands of reporters from around the globe.
Crotty's staffers were told that GOP officials would want both of the Orange County Convention Center's buildings, torpedoing the possibility of hosting trade groups and other conventions in one building at the same time.
Crotty's staffers were told that GOP officials would want both of the Orange County Convention Center's buildings, torpedoing the possibility of hosting trade groups and other conventions in one building at the same time. Both parties want access to the center for about three months for setup. The convention center schedules events 10 years or more in advance, and canceling shows that have already been booked would be a huge loss, center deputy manager Kathleen Canning said.
This should have been obvious to the Orlando people before they even expressed interest. Every convention in recent history has required 10-12 weeks exclusive access, and all adjacent space gets sucked up by the media requirements (not to mention security considerations would never allow a public event adjacent to a convention site).
"We certainly could not take both buildings out of commission for that length of time. You're talking about an economic loss of a couple hundred million dollars," Canning said.The mayors must decide whether to pursue either convention by mid-May, the deadline for bidding. Crotty is expecting a recommendation from his local GOP committee next week, and Dyer said he's gathering input from Democratic bigwigs on the state and national level.
I'm looking forward to see how Orlando's party at the DNC meeting goes!
If they abandon the effort, it wouldn't be the first time for Orlando. Crotty and then-Orlando Mayor Glenda Hood ruled out hosting the 2004 conventions after being invited to apply, citing the cost.
A convention would require extensive private fundraising, and the effort would come as Crotty and Dyer are pushing other initiatives that could also hinge on private donations, including a new performing-arts center and attracting the Burnham Institute, a California biomedical firm.
"We're talking about a four-day event that would get national and international attention, but that would cost us $100 million or more," Dyer said. "One question that needs to be explored is whether we would be better off utilizing that money in other ways."
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Denver is sending over two dozen folks to the DNC spring meeting in New Orleans to make the pitch for Denver to host the 2008 Democratic Convention: Mayor John Hickenlooper is scheduled to accompany former Mayor "Basically, it is kind of our opportunity to actually meet with (Democratic National Committee) members before the bid is due," said Wedgeworth, who co-chairs a committee trying to bring the convention to Denver.
Wellington Webb, Councilwoman Elbra Wedgeworth, state party chair Pat Waak and
others at the national gathering.
Denver won't be the only city sending people, but, as always, they're the only city making news and getting press about their bid.
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It's been announced that Minneapolis will be hosting a breakfast reception at the Spring meeting of the DNC in New Orleans next week. Minneapolis joins Denver and Orlando, which are hosting evening receptions at the DNC meeting. Put Minneapolis in the list of cities that are serious about hosting the 2008 Democratic Convention.
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Via Howard Kurtz, Eric Boehlert wrote more on Kerry's potential delaying his official acceptance so he could delay receiving his public money for the general election in 2004. While the theme of his article is focused on whether Kerry should have considered this even more seriously than he did, I will focus on the end of the article: Democrats should take note. I would just comment that Howard Dean did take note, and did what he needed to do to make sure the Democratic candidate didn't have to go through this again in 2008. He set the convention date for the last week in August. Problem solved.They [the media] all lectured Kerry about accepting the nomination in July and about playing by the existing campaign rules. But when the Swifties tore up the campaign rules, most journalists stood quietly by.
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The issue of public funding of the general election is closely tied to the scheduling of conventions, since the money does not become available until after the convention. As I've discussed here, here, and here, the relationship between convention dates and public financing and has changed drastically over the last 10 years, and I think it is changing again. "We had a 13-week general election, they had an eight-week general election. We had the same pot of money. We had to harbor our resources in a different way and we didn't have the same freedom," Kerry said. "I think the most important thing would have been to spend more money, if we could have, on the advertising and responding to some of the attacks," he said.
To review, it used to be there were advantages in having an earlier convention due to money. For a candidate taking public money for the primaries and the general election, they wouldn't get the general election money until after the convention. For example, Bob Dole in 1996 had a huge money problem in May and June. He was broke, and could do little advertising until he received his general election money in early August. Having an early convention was critical to a candidate low on funds.
But 8 years later, much had changed. Both Bush and Kerry opted out of public financing of their primary campaigns, and could therefore spend unlimited money until they had their convention. So the later the convention, the less time the General Election public money had to cover. This is why the Kerry campaign was looking at ways of potentially delaying the official acceptance of the nomination, so they could continue to use their unlimited primary money.
Which brings us to 2008. Looking at the money situation, the conventional wisdom is now that a late convention is a good thing, and with the two conventions back-to-back, the playing field will be level.
But I wonder if things aren't changing again in front of our eyes. Discussing the GOP convention date, the Hotline wrote: If both party nominees decide to accept the federal match for the general, they'll get to spend it over a relatively shorter period of time.
Note the word, "if". And today, 2004 Democratic candidate John Kerry made this statement about his biggest mistake in 2004:"I think the biggest mistake was probably not going outside the federal financing so we could have controlled our own message," the Massachusetts senator said on NBC's "Meet the Press." The Kerry campaign opted to accept federal money and federal spending limits and other rules after he won the Democratic nomination. The nominating convention in Boston occurred more than a month before the GOP renominated Bush, forcing Kerry to begin spending under federal rules much earlier than Bush.
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2012 Democratic National Convention Site Selection News
2012 Republican National Convention Site Selection News
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The RNC explains the choice of dates for the 2008 Republican National Convention: The RNC said Thursday that it wanted to adhere to a longstanding tradition that the party in the White House holds the later convention. “We wanted to follow that tradition,” RNC spokesman Aaron McLear said. “We’re really happy with the dates we chose.” McLear said that the selection of the September 2008 convention date was influenced not only by the Democrats’ decision but also the timing of the 2008 Summer Olympics, which will be held between Aug. 8-24 in Beijing.
This was really the only choice the GOP could make. It's a good thing they're happy with it.
Update: From the Washington Post, another sign that the RNC was put on the spot by Dean's early announcement of the late convention dates:Republicans privately seethed, arguing that the DNC's move was intended to box them into holding their convention before the Summer Olympics, which run Aug. 8-24.
There's no way the GOP would have gone in early August. I would expect these back-to-back to conventions to become the norm in the future.
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From the AP:Democratic chairman Howard Dean said the August dates were in the best interest of the party and anything after Labor Day would be a hardship for some party constituencies, in particular teachers. "I'm not worried about it at all," Dean said.
I read somewhere that teachers are the top profession among Democratic Convention delegates, due to the strong support by the various teachers unions. And while some schools start in mid-late August, it's clear that a September convention would not work for the Democrats, so the last week in August still makes for a good choice.
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From the Hotline On Call:Party officials have in the past few months quietly reached out to political coverage decision-makers at television networks to test their reaction to those dates.
The networks don't send as much equipment to the conventions as they used to anyway, so it won't be as much of a problem setting up for back-to-back conventions as it would have been 20 years ago.
In '05, DNC Chair Howard Dean announced that the party would hold its convention from 8/25-8/28, effectively boxing GOPers into either holding the convention the same week as the Democrats -- which the RNC rejected -- or holding it the week after.
Dean did not give the GOP much of a choice.
Rules in several states prevent presidential nominees from being added to the general election ballot after a certain point -- usually early September.
I wasn't aware of this, but this could be the main reason the GOP didn't go for the following week. The Hotline notes one other advantage to these later conventions:
If both party nominees decide to accept the federal match for the general, they'll get to spend it over a relatively shorter period of time.
So far, no candidate has turned down matching funds for the general. (Kerry and Bush both turned down matching funds for the primary, and I would expect the major candidates to do this in 2008). But this could become a major money issue for 2008, whether candidates might go without matching funds in the general, which could lead to unlimited amounts of hard, candidate-directed spending.
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The Republicans have just announced that they will hold their 2008 convention from September 1, Labor Day, to September 4, just four days after the Democrats finish their convention. This keeps the tradition of the party in the White House of having their convention second.
I thought they would start a week later, on 9/8, and finish on 9/11/08. But that didn't leave much time before the debates started in October, and maybe they were concerned about the acceptance speech being overshadowed by 9/11.
So going a week earlier gives them another week of September campaigning, and avoids 9/11. In addition:The timing of the GOP event could undercut any bounce that a Democratic nominee might get from the party gathering and would give the Republicans the last word politically.
But as I wrote:Starting the convention on Labor Day would not be best in terms of media coverage. Do you think the delegates and VIPs want to give up their Labor Day weekend? The media would be grumpy about it also, especially with the Democrats just finishing a few days earlier.
Don't expect any significant speakers for the Republicans on the first night of the convention, and lets hope the Media is in a real grumpy mode. And so much for the rumors of the Republicans threatening to hold their convention at the same time as the Democrats. Dean made a great move in picking and announcing the convention dates last November.
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Denver and Orlando are hosting receptions to promote their bids to host the 2008 Democratic National Convention at the Spring meeting of the Democratic National Committee in New Orleans in two weeks. From Denver's invitation, we see that the Colorado Democratic VIPs will be hosting, and that they have a slogan:
"Denver 2008 - Better by a Mile"
Note also the union label at the bottom of the invitation.
If any of our DNC readership attends, please let us know how the Denver and Orlando parties go. Drop me an email, and I'll post your reviews, anonymously, of course.
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I wrote previously about the Convention Technical Advisory Committee, whose job it is is to do the logistical review of the potential host cities. Democracy in Action has dug up more details on each of the members, including the specific areas of logistical responsibility for some of the members: Diane Dewhirst/Wally Podrazik: Media Logistics; Elaine Howard: Housing; Ricky Kirshner: Hall/Production; Cameron Moody: Transportation. Go to the DIA site for more background details on each of the members of the TAC.
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