States check out Denver hotels

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Close-in hotels will be at a premium at the 2008 Democratic Convention, so which delegations will get the best hotels?

Delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Denver next year are scoping out the 17,000 hotel rooms they will need as convention planners began sorting out the logistical issues on Wednesday, including transportation, lodging and security.
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Deputy chief of operations Cameron Moody said convention officials have to find 17,000 hotel rooms for the 4,950 delegates and alternates, plus thousands more family members, media and others who will attend the convention, which begins Aug. 25, 2008.

They also have to arrange to get them to from their hotels to the convention and other venues.

Moody said the convention will be less disruptive in Denver than it was in previous venues because it will be held downtown. He said delegates will travel downtown before the afternoon rush hour and return to their hotels late at night, allowing them to stay downtown for dinner and other activities.

Now Moody has lots of convention experience, but he has his facts quite mixed up. Every Democratic Convention since at least 1976 has been in the "downtown" part of the city. (If someone wants to correct me on Chicago's United Center in 1996, please do so). And delegates always travel to the site before afternoon rush hour and leave late at night. Not to mention all those "dinner and other activities" taking place right in the middle of rush hour. Face it transportation is always a problem for conventions, and Denver will likely be no different.

The Denver Post has more:

Democrats on Wednesday kicked off the process of divvying up hotel rooms for the 7,000 delegates who will attend the 2008 national convention in Denver.

Party officials from seven states, including Colorado, are in town to tour hotels Wednesday and today. Visits scheduled for mid-July and mid-August will round out the chance for the 56 delegations to view prospective living places for next summer when they come to anoint the presidential nominee.
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After the three delegation visits, officials will submit their top five choices for hotels to the Democratic Party in September. The party then assigns rooms by the end of November.