Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Could both conventions be held in Minnesota in different venues?

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

An interesting option has come up: Could the Democrats and Republicans hold their conventions in back-to-back weeks in different venues in Minneapolis/St. Paul? The Democrats have already decided to hold their convention at the St. Paul Xcel Energy Center. I've been assuming the two conventions could not be held in the same city, as there's no way for the two events to share a venue - different requirements, cost sharing issues, not to mention the venue looks pretty trashed after the convention is over.

But could the GOP go to the Target Center or Metrodome the following week? I don't see why not. The Minneapolis venues are obviously not near the St. Paul venue, so the whole construction/logistics/security thing is not an issue.

The biggest issue would be hotel rooms, but I bet it could be worked around. Very few of the political people stay at a convention past Friday, and most of the political people coming to a convention would arrive Friday through Sunday before the convention starts, so if you reserve one nice hotel for the GOP before and while the Democrats are in town, you could make it work. As for the media, let the city or a neutral organization handle their housing, and they could just stay in the same hotel rooms for both conventions. I don't think the parties would be happy about it, but it could probably work.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Twin Cities selection committee says it won't host both conventions. They say it's a "first come, first served" deal. Whichever party picks the Twin Cities first gets the site. They will then pull the other bid...

Anonymous said...

What an interesting idea...

Matt said...

To the first commentor, I know what Twin Cities host committee has said, and I know that the Democrats (and probably the GOP too) require the city to be exclusive to one party. But my point was, because of the different venues, it is logistically possible, and once it's possible, who knows what could happen.

Anonymous said...

it can't be done, as soon as someone chooses a site, the winning city is required to cease conversations with the other party.