Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Who's really in the running to host the convention - 5/2 update

WE'VE MOVED! Democratic Convention Watch is now at http://www.DemocraticConventionWatch.com

Looking at everything so far, I think the 2008 Democratic Convention is going to be held in one of 5 cities: Denver, Detroit, Minneapolis, New Orleans or New York, with Denver the clear front-runner.

The reasoning is pretty straightforward. Denver and Minneapolis are clearly actively pursuing the convention. Detroit and New York are also strong candidates, with strong histories of hosting or bidding for previous conventions, and little negative press attached to the bids. New Orleans remains a sentimental choice for many.

Anaheim and Las Vegas are still hanging around, but clearly Denver is the class of the West here, and I don't see how they would lose out to another Western city, especially with the Californian chair of the DNC Western Caucus wearing a "Denver 2008" button.

San Antonio and Orlando have officially dropped out, Phoenix has essentially unofficially dropped out, and Dallas is on the way out also.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't remember hearing about New York or Detroit having a presence at all at the spring DNC meeting. Did they? Will they have a reception or something at the next meeting? I'm just curious. What effect does the parties and such even have on the selection process? I'm sorry for all the questions, I'm really new to this.

Matt said...

New York and Detroit did not have a presence at the DNC Spring meeting, but it's not required. The receptions are held to try to convince people that your city should host the convention. The hope is that the word will spread, and eventually your VIP converts will tell Dean to pick that city. Remember, ultimately it is Dean's own decision as to where to host the convention.

The DNC only holds two meetings like this a year, and the next meeting is in the fall, which is probably too late for these type of receptions.

All questions are welcome. But if you can, get a login - it makes it easier to hold a comment conversation.

-Matt