What about those reports of Party division?

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Last week, we heard the media report over and over that the Democratic Party was experiencing this massive divide, and that the Party would not be unified heading into the general election. Naturally, the news media need the drama to up the ratings. Only to be disappointed when the DNCC saw Clinton make the decisive motion in putting Senator Obama over the top to claim the Democratic nomination. Dang, the massive divide turned into a massive hug-out.

Yet less than one week later, we see a Republican convention that is not only thinly attended, but sees an entirely separate convention of GOP followers take place a few minutes down the road. The Paultards have been begging for this kind of attention. There's drama! There's suspense! There's people wearing crazy hats! This, my friends, is a division of the good ol' fashioned sort - the critical kind. We're talking news that could have been as big as that "Phish" break up a few years ago.

Where, may I ask, are the media inquiries to this split in the Party? Surely ratings must still mean something.

Or maybe there aren't enough press to cover the divide because the RNC only has half as many press who were banished to St. Paul compared to those who willingly went to Denver.

It Looks like the Target Center is Getting a Convention After All

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I know we normally only focus on the Democratic National Convention here at DemConWatch but this is just too good to pass up.

Back in August of 2006 Matt wrote about the possibility of holding one party's convention in Minneapolis' Target Center and the other in St.Paul's Xcel Energy Center.



Now snubbed former Republican Presidential Candidate Ron Paul and his supporters have decided to hold a party of their own across the river from the Republicans in beautiful downtown Minneapolis.

Not content with a planned rally at the University of Minnesota's Williams Arena on Sept. 2, the Paul forces now plan a three-day "Rally for the Republic" that will climax in a 10-hour extravaganza at the Target Center arena.

"It's getting exciting," said Marianne Stebbins, a longtime GOP activist who ran the Texas congressman's campaign in Minnesota. "We realized [Williams Arena] wasn't big enough for everything we wanted to do." - Strib

Yet another bad day for John McCain.

St Paul Pioneer Press article on preferring Dem Convention angers RNC officials

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A St Paul Pioneer Press article last week by Tom Webb entitled "We're thrilled to have RNC ... but still sighing over the Dems" drew a quick reply from Matt Burns, the RNC's Director of Communications

From the original story:

Maybe it's too late for what-ifs. After all, we did woo the Republicans. They did pop the question first. The Twin Cities did agree to be their convention date.

Still, a great political drama is unfolding this year, spawning a convention that will pulse with passion and history. But it's not coming to St. Paul. It's in Denver.

We're hosting the other presidential convention. The one with almost no drama and very little buzz. For the Twin Cities, it's like finally being invited to the royal ball but by the wrong prince.

But maybe our prince has regrets about us, too.

"If they had to do it over again, I think Republicans would rather be in Denver," said Steven Schier, a political science professor at Carleton College. Colorado "just seems to be a more competitive state for the fall."

We'll see how competitive Colorado is in November!

So Matt Burns fires back the next day with "Right place, right convention" in which he questions the reporters data gathering.

Mr. Webb apparently conducted a basic Google search and found "statistics" to support his flawed comparison of the buzzes surrounding the national political conventions. In conducting his "research," did Mr. Webb include "Minneapolis," "St. Paul," "Minneapolis-St. Paul," in addition to "St. Paul"? Not to mention "Twin Cities," which this area is fondly known as to many. Mr. Webb's statement that Denver, where the Democratic National Convention will be held, has "10 times the mentions" falls flat when one considers that "Denver" is rarely referenced as anything but "Denver" in its media coverage.

Burns goes on and on about how to correctly search "The Google" but fails to hit on the many other points that Webb mentions.

"The Republican Party is a mess right now; there's no question about it," said Sarah Janecek, a Republican and editor of Politics in Minnesota.

You would think he could have at least thrown out a talking point to refute that statement!

Washington Post needs to do a little research

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The Washington Post tried to give an overview of the site selection process, but didn't do a good job:

The Democrats' choice of Denver for the convention, to be held Aug. 25-28, 2008, in a downtown basketball and hockey arena, had become almost a foregone conclusion in recent months.

First mistake. Denver was always a netroots favorite, and often a front-runner, but never a foregone conclusion, especially when their bid was considered "disatrous".

In the initial jostling to be host city, New Orleans seemed to be the front-runner, because a convention there would remind voters of the Bush administration's much-criticized response to Hurricane Katrina.

Mistake 2: New Orleans was always an intriguing choice, but it's downsides never made it the front-runner.

When New Orleans officials dropped out of the competition last summer -- the city said it couldn't afford to host a convention in the midst of rebuilding -- New York and Denver became the finalists.

Biggest mistake. When New Orleans dropped out, that left three cities. The Post missed St. Paul, which was probably the favorite until the GOP picked it for their convention. Only then did New York and Denver become the final two. Three mistakes in three paragraphs. Let's hope the rest of the paper has a better average.

How we got here

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There have been a lot of new readers since this blog started over a year ago, so here's a summary of how we got to two cities, Denver and New York, both vying to be the host of the 2008 Democratic National Convention:

I started the blog on November 7, 2005, just after DNC Chairman Howard Dean announced that the convention would be held Aug 25-28, 2008, just after the Summer Olympics, which was a great date both for both financial and political reasons, and eventually forced the GOP to start their convention on Labor Day. New Orleans was the first city openly discussed, but Denver, as they have all year, was first in expressing interest, forming a Host Committee, and accepting an invitation to bid for the convention. But even by late November, 2005, questions about Denver's labor issues began to surface. By mid-December, 35 cities were invited to bid to host the convention.

Although other cities such as Anchorage were proposed, the real players soon emerged. First to accept a bid were Denver and Orlando, soon followed by Anaheim, Dallas, Detroit, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York City, Phoenix and San Antonio, with Denver, New Orleans and New York considered the front-runners, although the netroots supported Denver and New Orleans. Some cities started slowly: Detroit couldn't agree whether it had accepted the bid, Dallas was more concerned about the Mary Kay convention, and San Antonio was worried about feasibility and costs. By mid-April, Orlando was expressing concerns about the cost. Phoenix was the first to drop out, and Orlando and San Antonio soon followed.

The DNC held their spring meeting in April in New Orleans, which brought front and center the good and bad about having the convention there, and where the general feeling was that Denver had the bid all locked up, although the first signs of problems from local Denver union officials began to surface. Anaheim dropped out in early May, soon followed by Dallas, and then, surprisingly, Detroit, thought to have a good chance to host the convention, and finally Las Vegas, which realized it could make more money with their normal convention schedule than with a political convention. This left four cities which were reported to have made bids to host the convention: Denver, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New Orleans and New York.

Or maybe not. Questions about whether New Orleans really made a bid started to surface, as no site visit had been scheduled, and in mid-July, it was official - New Orleans dropped out, saying the cost of holding the event after Hurricane Katrina last year was too massive. This was a controversial decision, with some feeling the DNC should have lessened the financial requirements for New Orleans due to its special situation.

In June, the Site Selection Committee started its visits, visiting New York, Denver and Minneapolis/St. Paul. July saw Denver trying to raise money from other states, the DNC focusing on the St. Paul Xcel Center for the Twin Cities bid, and Denver hiring a "heavy hitter" to run its bid. August started quiet, although Denver, New York and St. Paul all hosted receptions at the summer DNC meeting. But by the end of the summer, money and labor issues were impacting Denver's bid.

Denver's efforts bottomed out in early September, when its bid was called "disastrous". But the bid improved, and when the GOP preemptively chose St. Paul as the site of their convention, Denver was a contender again, Then Denver's Convention Headquarters Hotel was unionized, which was considered a "huge deal".

Denver's roll continued with reports that New York was having problems raising money, and then Democrats won the Governor's race in Colorado. And while Dean expressed concern about Denver's ability to raise money, Denver seemed to answer those concerns.

Denver was confident that would get the nod in a early December decision, but New York made a last-minute push, and by mid-December it was 50-50, with a decision considered imminent. But then a Denver union leader refused to sign a no-strike pledge, New York had more issues raising money, and finally the DNC announced they were delaying a decision until January.

So where does that leave us? With the following questions:

Where does Hillary Clinton really want the convention?
Where does New York mayor Mike Bloomberg really want the convention?
Where does Denver's Local No. 7 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees really want the convention?
And finally, the only question that really matters, where does DNC Chairman Howard Dean really want the convention?

Wasn't Denver our first choice anyway?

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There is a lot of whining in the blogosphere today about how the Democrats got beat by Republicans to St. Paul, and why did the Democrats move so slow. Enough.

Denver, Minnepolis/St. Paul and New Orleans have been the three favorites to host the convention all year long, and for many of us, Denver has been the most attractive choice. St. Paul is out, and New Orleans decided not to bid. I think we all agree that Denver will make a fantastic host for the 2008 Democratic National Convention, and hopefully Dean and the DNC will choose Denver to host the convention.

Did the GOP play fair?

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Now we don't expect the GOP to really ever play fair, but I argued in the comments below that I thought the GOP decision to pre-emptively choose St. Paul was smart, not dirty politics. But a Minnesota Democrat says otherwise:

Rick Stafford, a member of the executive committee of the Democratic National Committee from Minneapolis, said negotiations set for next week "would have pretty much cemented the deal." He said the GOP's decision showed that Republicans "cannot keep their honor in the site-selection process." He said as the non-incumbent party, Democrats should have been able to choose their site first in keeping with tradition.

"It just follows their whole scorched-earth ... philosophy that's running true to form this year," said Stafford, adding that "all the signals" indicated that Republicans were going to allow Democrats to choose their site first. He speculated that word got out that Democrats wanted the Twin Cities and that pressure was applied on the RNC by local Republicans to act quickly if they wanted to nail down the Twin Cities.

Republicans rejected Stafford's arguments, noting that they picked first when they took their convention to New York in 2004.

Well, the Republicans lied about 2004. The Democrats chose Boston in November, 2002, while the GOP chose New York in January, 2003. (Source: New York Times articles).

Update: The Star-Tribune corrected the article (at least on their web site) saying:

A story on Page A1 Thursday incorrectly described which political party picked its convention site first in 2004. The Democrats announced their site first.

But while I've verified the tradition of the incumbent party having the later convention, this is the first I've seen of a tradition of allowing the non-incumbent party of picking first. In fact, it's been reported in numerous places that for Minneapolis/St. Paul and New York, whichever party announced their pick first would get the city for their 2008 convention. So I'm not sure if the GOP went over the line here. But it does confirm what I wrote below, that the Democrats were getting ready to pick St. Paul, and the GOP just beat them to it.

Democrats were close to deciding?!?! - updated

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They always put the good stuff at the bottom of the article:

By Wednesday, the race had come down to the wire. National Democrats were to meet on Friday in New York to make their pick. National Republicans had already closed in on the Twin Cities.

Around noon, Sen. Coleman put in an urgent call to Rybak. Smith pulled Rybak out of an open house meeting with constituents to give him the news: The RNC had chosen Minneapolis/St. Paul.

At 1:15 p.m. Ryak called Dean. "He told me to please hold off," Rybak said. "I told him I could wait maybe an hour, but I reminded him we had promised it to whoever came in first."

By 2 p.m., Dean called back. "He said, 'We're not ready to make a decision,' " Rybak said.

More from the AP:

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, a Democrat, were still trading phone calls at lunchtime Wednesday, just before news broke that the Republicans picked the Twin Cities for their 2008 convention.

The official word came around 3 p.m. local time, prompting a bipartisan crowd at Xcel Energy Center to erupt into cheers. The GOP was coming; the Democrats would have to look elsewhere.

"We were in very aggressive conversations with them up to and including about three hours ago," Rybak said of the Democrats at a news conference.

He added: "I spoke with Governor Dean twice today. They were planning to make a decision I believe very, very shortly. The Republicans moved first."

I take three things from this. First, the Democrats may have wanted to pick St. Paul as their site for the 2008 convention, but they couldn't make a decision in 45 minutes, and, even if they did, the GOP did announce first.

Second, were the Democrats going to meet on Friday and pick St. Paul? Seems pretty clear the decision leaked, and the GOP then decided to announce first and get first dibs on St. Paul. If so, the GOP won this battle.

And finally, are the Democrats still meeting on Friday to make a decision? Probably not, as there is no time pressure now.

Could St. Paul have gone for the Democrats today?

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From CQPolitics.com:

Jeremy Hanson, a spokesman for Democratic Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, said the cities were in a “flurry” of final negotiations with both parties Wednesday, and Republicans moved to seal the deal first.

Hanson wouldn’t elaborate on negotiations, citing they were part of private contracts. But he said that most facets of what it takes to host a convention, including details of hotel packages, transportation and security, were still under discussion earlier on Wednesday. “There was no one thing,” he said.

Why were the Democrats also in a flurry of final negotiations today? Reading between the lines, it certainly sounds like the Democrats knew this was about to happen - could they have made a bid for St. Paul today also? My guess is the Democrats probably weren't ready to pull the trigger, and the GOP was. But I hope we hear more about what went on in the final hours.

GOP selects St. Paul/Minneapolis

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While the Democrats moved first in picking convention dates and visiting cities, the GOP, realizing they needed to move fast to get their first choice, announced today that they have chosen St. Paul/Minneapolis as the site of their 2008 convention. New York, Cleveland and Tampa/St. Petersburg were also in the running. The convention will be held at St. Paul's Xcel Center, just as the Democrats were going to do. This leaves the Democrats with Denver and New York as their final two choices.

CQ notes:

Acting earlier than expected, the Republican National Committee has named Minneapolis-St. Paul as its venue for the 2008 Republican convention, the Associated Press reports. The RNC had not been expected to name its venue until January.

And no, the Democrats can't go to St. Paul/Minneapolis also:

Minneapolis and New York are also bidding for the Democratic National Convention for 2008. The Democrats require exclusivity, which would eliminate either from GOP consideration if selected by the Democrats first.

The DNC responds:

"We want to congratulate the Twin Cities. The DNC was thrilled to have three great American cities submit strong bids for the 2008 Democratic National Convention. We are looking forward to working with Denver and New York as we make our final decision. The Twin Cities is a great community and this announcement is good news for the cities," said Democratic National Committee Press Secretary Stacie Paxton.

Denver responds:

This is probably good news for Denver, as it narrows the DNC’s choices to Denver and New York City. The DNC has a rule that cities may not host the Republican Convention in the same city, so the choice of Minneapolis takes them out of the competition. Governor Dean has already said he wants to get the Convention off of the coasts in 2008, which also speaks well of Denver’s bid. We’re still working to deal with various issues, but this is GOOD NEWS for the Denver 2008 bid

And was Cleveland the second choice?

The chairwoman of the nine-member site selection committee, Jo Ann Davidson, contacted Ohio GOP Chairman Bob Bennett on Wednesday to tell him about the decision to chose Minneapolis-St. Paul before any public announcement. He said she told him the race was tight

Hotline says New York just ahead of St. Paul

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In what will certainly be a suprise to readers of this blog, the Hotline says the two frontrunners for the convention are New York, and just behind, St. Paul/Minneapolis:

Could the Democratic National Convention return to New York City in 2008?

According to party sources and other Democrats who have consulted with members of the party's selection committee, NYC and Minneapolis-St. Paul are right outside the winners’ circle. NYC is said to have an edge -- at least for now.

The site selection committee had high hopes for Denver, located in a blinking-blue Mountain West state with a growing Hispanic population. But one Democrat briefed on the city's presentation and bid called it "disastrous." Others confirmed that the general impression among site selection members of Denver was not positive. The city also lacks a union hotel, and even though the city’s labor leaders voted to table its outrage, it remains an obstacle.

We've certainly heard about the labor issues, but I'd love to know what about the bid presentation was "disastrous"? Maybe money?

The Twin Cities' bid meets the party’s nominal requirements, but several Democrats involved in the process worry about extended commutes from delegate hotels to events.

Democratic donors, irate at the Republican Party’s 2004 fete in their city, have urged the party to choose New York. And that city’s bid has been the most impressive. One part of its presentation to the DNC consisted of a “lessons learned” discussion about the 2004 convention.

One unanticipated concern: the resolve of television networks to scale down their convention coverage. Holding the show in New York City would dramatically reduce the costs.

Some Democrats worry about the symbolism of choosing New York City over Minnesota and question whether the party will acquiesce to the cultural elitism of its donors. Others suggest that Sen. Hillary Clinton wouldn’t want to hold her nominating convention in her home state. But that concern is not widely shared among Democrats close to Sen. Clinton.

I think there will be a lot of dissapointed people in the netroots if Dean picks New York, but it looks like the 'donors' and their money are talking.

Update: Hotline updated the article, (only linkable from the main page), and added the following:

Others confirmed that the general impression among site selection members of Denver was not positive, although a third iteration of Denver's bid, submitted last week, has been better received.

That certainly makes it a bit better for Denver, but Denver's bid clearly has problems of an unknown nature.

Also added:

Democrats also worry that Republicans have their designs on using the city [St. Paul] for its convention.

Well that's only a problem if the GOP picks their city first...

St. Paul is confident

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St. Paul thinks it and New York will be the final two cities in the running to host the 2008 Democratic National Convention due to Denver's union issues:

When Minnesota DFLers went to Boston for the Democratic National Convention in the summer of 2004, they stayed at the Radisson Cambridge, a union hotel. "The labor movement has been a close partner with the Democratic Party since the New Deal and we should do everything we can to honor that," said John Stiles, a St. Paul DFLer who made the trip.

As it seeks to land the 2008 Democratic convention, the city of Denver is learning that history the hard way: Officials there now acknowledge the city's bid will fail unless Denver gets a union hotel, which might leave the Twin Cities and New York as the best bets to win the prize. "We feel like we're one step closer to securing a bid. When you narrow the field, our chances just went from 33 percent to 50 percent," Erin Dady, St. Paul's marketing director, said Tuesday. Andrew O'Leary, executive director of the Minnesota DFL Party, said: "Obviously, Minneapolis and St. Paul are great union towns."

Of the three finalists, Denver had been considered a frontrunner by many observers, largely because of Colorado's growing political importance in national politics. But Denver officials are now going public with criticisms that many national Democrats have murmured about since the bidding process began.
...
The issue became contentious earlier this year when the Denver Area Labor Federation distributed a resolution fighting the city's bid unless it got a union hotel. The dispute revolves around a lobbying effort to organize the new Hyatt Regency Denver.

O'Leary said Minnesota DFLers have been promoting the Twin Cities as a great place for a national convention because of its people, atmosphere, geography and status as a political swing state. In addition, he said the region's media market hits five states, including two other swing states: Wisconsin and Iowa.

He said the state DFL makes it a practice to do its business with unions: "It's not just union hotels. We try to use union resources in everything we do."

The Twin Cities unions are also optimistic:

The head of the Twin Cities hospitality workers union says she thinks labor issues raised by union leaders in Denver can’t be resolved in time to win a bid for the 2008 Democratic National Convention. “I think they’re not going to go there,” says Jaye Rykunyk, state director for UNITE HERE, the union that represents local hotel staff, waiters and other hospitality workers.
...
Anyway, Rykunyk says she’s been following developments in Colorado, albeit from a distance. Other than some Sky Chef workers at the airport, she said, her organization doesn’t have any real presence in Denver -- the problem that the Denver Area Labor Federation is reportedly making a stand on.

(Leslie Moody, the federation president, has not responded to any recent inquiries about a May letter regarding the union issue there. There was, however, reportedly a meeting that touched on the issue on Tuesday.)

But the union grapevine, Rykunyk told the Scoop today, has it that there have even been threats to picket the Democratic National Convention if it shows up uninvited by organized labor in Denver. And that would make for some extremely bad television, not to mention the, um, interesting debate regarding whether or not Democrats would cross a picket line on their way to endorse a presidential candidate.

“The people who say, ‘We’ve got two years to straighten this out,’ are dreaming,” Rykunyk told the Scoop this afternoon. “These events are planned years in advance. There’s so much setup, you have to jockey all this stuff around and you have 10 days or two weeks that are basically just taken off the books… You can’t risk that kind of business on a maybe.”

Rykunyk said that unions in the Twin Cities, including workers at 20 hotels, are ready and willing to play ball. “They are guaranteed there won’t be any labor problems,” she said of the Democrats. “And all the work they need can be done by union workers. We’ve got stage hands, carpenters, painters, electricians, you name it.

Remember, all these opinions are from Minnesota, and are therefore all biased. It's also interesting that Leslie Moody, president of the Denver Area Labor Federation, has been relatively quiet on the subject since she was last quoted in May. In May, she said:

"This is not, 'Don't even bother, throw Denver out the window. We want to see this convention encourage the city to take the wages and benefits of our lowest-paid workers more seriously."

She did issue a statement last week, saying:

"It is our hope that Denver will have more than one union hotel by the summer of 2008 when the convention is due to be held."

Given the hint above that there was a meeting on the subject earlier this week, I don't think we should assume that this issue can't be worked out to everone's satisfaction.

St. Paul looking to take advantage

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As Denver worries about union issues, St. Paul looks to take advantage:

The city once thought to be the front-runner for the 2008 Democratic National Convention may be flagging, and Minnesota organizers say they're more hopeful than ever they'll overtake Denver in the quest to host the gathering. Two of Colorado's top convention organizers publicly acknowledged over the weekend that the lack of unionized hotel workers in Denver could hurt its chances of landing the national Democratic gathering.
...
Unions have yet to organize a single hotel in Denver, although the convention doesn't open for another two years. ... By comparison, the labor group representing hotel workers in Minnesota, UNITE HERE, lists 13 organized hotels in downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul.
...
But follow-up responses and the fine print in the party's site inquiry could be the keys to the Democrats' 2008 site selection. The Democratic National Committee's request for proposals includes a provision that "unions of various jurisdictions will not engage in any work stoppage or similar action that would disrupt the convention" in return for the party's exclusive use of union labor "whenever available."

And although the Democrats did convene in Atlanta, a nonunion city, in 1988, the Denver Area Labor Federation said earlier this year it will oppose the city's 2008 bid unless it can successfully organize at least some of the city's hotel workers. The newly opened Hyatt Denver Convention Center Hotel seems to be a particular sticking point.

The 37-story, 1,100-room, publicly financed hotel would play a key role in a Colorado convention but has been buffeted by labor issues at a number of junctures since the project began in 2002.

Are the Democrats more concerned about work stoppages during the convention, or about the symbolism of having the convention in a nonunion city. I suppose it's both, but it would seem rather cynical if promises of no work stoppages would be enough to bypass this issue and put the convention in Denver.

For New York, it's about the money, not the politics

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New York is mercenary about its bid to host the 2008 Democratic and Republican National Conventions:

Last week Mayor Bloomberg crossed party (and state) lines in favor of a much stronger allegiance: money.
...
the Mayor attended the Democratic National Committee’s annual summer meeting in Chicago, where he rubbed elbows with his former party’s brass and made a case for holding the 2008 Democratic National Convention in the Big Apple.
...
Bloomberg, however, seems colorblind when it comes to party (NYC is also on the short list to hold the RNC gala the same year). Rather than hoisting a candidate to the presidency, as NYC conventions did for both Carter and Clinton, Bloomberg sees only the financial boost. Along with plenty of protest and general bellyaching, the 2004 event reaped about $255 million.

Well I don't know about that $255 million, but the whole New York bid seem just seems mechanical. And yes St. Paul/Minneapolis has also bid for both conventions, but the attitude about the bids is different, not to mention, from the Democratic side, two Democratic mayors are pushing the bid for St. Paul.

Hat tip to the commentor below who referenced the above article.

Money now becomes the issue - or does it?

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The site visits are over, the receptions are over. None of the three finalists have any show-stoppers when it comes to facilities, and two of the cities have a great political advantage - they're not New York. The Denver Post headlines an article today saying money is the issue; but reading more closely, the picture is less clear:

The three cities vying to host the 2008 Democratic National Convention will have to show fundraising commitments as the national officials look to narrow their choice to two next month. Denver, Minneapolis-St. Paul and New York have proved they can meet the basic logistical needs to host more than 30,000 delegates when they nominate the party's next presidential candidate. But whichever city is chosen will have to raise tens of millions of dollars.

As the three cities entertained the Democratic National Committee delegates at the Hilton Chicago this weekend, they heard from national officials that it is time to prove their fundraising muster. "It's really no surprise," said Chris Gates, a co-chair of Denver's host committee. He said now that the Democrats have evaluated each city for its facilities, it only makes sense to verify financing.

So money is the issue?

Questions about New York's fundraising abilities were answered about as quickly as "Sopranos" star Lorraine Bracco introduced billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg at the city's reception Thursday. "He's smart. He's good-looking. He's rich," Bracco said.

But Denver and Minneapolis-St. Paul have turned to regional support, banking on the Mountain West or the Midwest, respectively. "This is truly about bringing this convention to the West, not just Denver," host committee vice-chair Dan Slater told Western representatives Friday. And Montana Democratic Party vice chair Tracy Velazquez said, "Unless the National Democrats come out West in 2008, we are never going to win."

Minneapolis-St. Paul's bid is cut from the same mold. Where Denver is selling the Mountain West, Minneapolis-St. Paul is pitching the states along the Mississippi River. "It's time for the Democratic Party to control the heartland of this country," Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak told delegates Friday. "You win the Mississippi River, you win the presidency."

Strange quotes here, as they address political support, not money support.

The final decision is ultimately Howard Dean's. The national party chair did not attend any of the functions the three cities hosted, but he met privately with representatives. "He's keeping his cards close to his vest," said Denver City Councilwoman and host committee president Elbra Wedgeworth. "He's saying that it is going to come down to a technical decision."

So money is not the issue, technical logistics are? As DenverDan implied in the comments, a technical decision could cover lots of things, including logistics, money, politics.

Wedgeworth said the Democratic National Committee will narrow the field to two in September. For Denver, that means proving it can raise more than $70 million - including federal grants for security. Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper told delegates that "we are going to need your help."

Hickenlooper has pledged not to spend public dollars on Denver's bid, and he has already asked other Mountain West states to help raise money.

Dean says its a "technical decision", and the cities were told to get their money story in order. Unfortunately, money is the one topic that will be hardest to get any information on, so it may be a guessing game for a bit.

Minnesota thows a party

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St. Paul/Minneapolis hosted their reception Friday night at the DNC meeting in Chicago:

Maybe the wild rice was out of season, or the lutefisk would have been too confusing for fish lovers. But the end result was that there wasn't much that felt very Minnesotan at a party thrown Friday evening for members of the Democratic National Committee gathered in Chicago. Still, the drinks were free and they were flowing generously on the second floor lobby of the Hilton Chicago.

As Minneapolis/St. Paul, Denver and New York City lobby for the honor to host the 2008 Democratic National Convention, the food and party favors matter this weekend. The non-Minnesotan buffet perhaps simply reflected the confidence of the Twin Cities in winning at least one national convention, considering that they are also in the running for the Republican National Convention.
...
As DNC members left the Minnesota party for a night on the town, they were given a gift bag. Inside was at least one Minnesota classic: a hockey puck.

DemNotes has a picture of what was in the gift bag. Not much there beyond the hockey puck...

DNC to annouce two finalists next month

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According to a well-placed source, the DNC has told the bid committees that they will announce two finalists next month, and then enter into even more serious negotiations with each city.

This can only mean one thing: this will soon be a two city race to host the convention, and the two cities will be Denver and St. Paul.

Update: This is now publically confirmed in today's Denver Post:

Denver City Councilwoman and host committee president Elbra Wedgeworth said the Democratic National Committee will narrow the field to two in September.

Convention receptions at DNC meeting in Chicago

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The DNC is holding their summer meeting in Chicago this weekend, and each of the cities are hosting receptions:

New York: This evening (Thursday)
Minneapolis/St. Paul: Tomorrow evening
Denver: Saturday morning

Details for the New York party:

[Republican] Mayor Bloomberg and the speaker of the City Council, Christine Quinn ... will speak at a cocktail reception in Chicago's Millennium Park and will be joined by Soprano's star Lorraine Bracco.

The host committee is chartering a double-decker bus to bring the delegates — who are in the Windy City for an annual summer meeting — to the reception. The bar will serve Cosmopolitans, Manhattans, and "Big Apple" Martinis.

NY spokesman Stu Loeser says: "The mayor is the city's No. 1 salesman, so it's well worth his time to go out there."

Oh yeah, the DNC is also going to be discussing something about primary schedules, but readers of this blog know that the convention receptions are where the action is...

The politics of picking a convention site

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

CQPolitics examines the politics that play into picking a host city for the 2008 Democratic National Convention:

Picking a host city two years in advance of the 2008 presidential nominating conventions — a process in which both major parties are currently engaged — implies thinking ahead.

And that extends to considering the political backdrop that the host city would provide for a convention, said Brandon Rottinghaus, assistant professor of political science at University of Idaho. “Presidential politics is about the future, with the rhetoric about moving on and the next step,” said Rottinghaus, who studies the presidency and the presidential election process.
...
Sizing up the politics of the pick, Rottinghaus called Denver the “smart play” for the Democrats. Though the Mountain West region has strongly favored Republican presidential candidates in recent elections, Democrats and some independent analysts view demographic changes — including the growth in the Democratic-leaning Hispanic population — as providing greater opportunities for the Democrats to compete.

Specifically, Rottinghaus said the atmospherics of a Denver convention could help the Democrats pick up three states, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada, in which they heavily competed in 2004, but where party nominee John Kerry ultimately lost to President Bush.“The growth of the Sunbelt — that’s where the voters are,” Rottinghaus said.

Denver boosters have integrated this concept into their pitch to the Democrats. “It’s a regional bid,” said Bill Mitchell, government affairs director at the Denver Metro Convention and Visitors bureau. “There’s a significant groundswell of support from the 13 Western states.” Mitchell added, “By choosing Denver, any party would show they’re willing to move the needle internally and think outside the box,” he said. “It would send a signal that the Democratic Party is trying to do something different.”

As I've been saying for a while.

Rottinghaus suggested that the Democrats have less to gain politically if they were to choose New York City. The city already is one of the party’s premier presidential voting strongholds, regularly giving its nominees 70 percent or more of its votes. And the Democrats might appear as though they were mimicking the Republicans, who went against type by choosing that city for the 2004 convention at which Bush was nominated for a second term.

I don't think the Democrats care that the GOP was there in 2004, but it's very clear that politically New York does absolutely nothing for the Democrats.

Rottinghaus said the viability of the bid by the Minnesota metropolis to hold the Democratic convention may hinge on the state’s key congressional races this fall: the open-seat contest for the Senate seat left open by retiring Democrat Mark Dayton, and the 6th Congressional District contest for the seat Republican Mark Kennedy left open to run for the Senate. Both races are rated by CQPolitics.com as tossups.

Rottinghaus said victories in both these elections — but only both — could enable state Democrats to pitch that they are successfully staving off a Republican effort to gain the upper hand in the politically competitive state. “The Democrats might say, ‘We’re hoping to reconnect with the voters who have turned away from us, so we’ll go to a state that’s been traditionally Democratic but has been more Republican over the last few years,’” Rottinghaus said.

I've seen similar things said about the Denver bid. But with a nationalized election coming up, its' hard to believe that the outcome of a specific race or two will have any real effect.

Rottinghaus believes Tampa-St. Petersburg or Cleveland are the best choices for the GOP.

Paul Eisenberg, editorial director at Fodor’s Travel, said logistics are most important because a convention can utterly change the complexion of the city it is being held in. New York City, because of its size and its longstanding facility for handling massive numbers of visitors, “has the best chance of absorbing that,” Eisenberg said.

New York, in fact, has hosted four national conventions in the past 30 years — the Democrats in 1976, 1980 and 1992 and the Republicans in 2004, all at Madison Square Garden — and is the city that is by far most familiar with the process. “New York City has proven time and again that we can execute complex, large-scale events flawlessly,” said Kevin Sheekey, the city’s deputy mayor for government affairs, in an e-mailed statement. “We have no doubt that we can raise the funds necessary to assist either party with expenses and ensure a successful event leading into the final weeks before Election Day.”

But Eisenberg said Denver is a manageable city that has the bonus of being close to the natural wonders of the Rocky Mountains, making it another feasible choice. Minneapolis-St. Paul has a quainter feel than all the other cities, Eisenberg said, and would be an interesting destination for the high-profile conventions. But, he added, the cities’ tourist infrastructure might have a hard time handling an invasion of 25,000 or so outsiders. “They’ll have the most difficult time absorbing the increase in population,” he said. “It doesn’t spring to mind as an obvious choice.”

Lots of interesting points, but in the end, it still leaves us with Denver and St. Paul as the front-runners.

Rocky Mountain News compares the 3 cities

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

The Rocky Mountain News has a brief comparison of the 3 cities that are vying to host the 2008 Democratic National Convention:

The Mile High City is banking on the growing awareness of the Mountain West's election-swinging clout. Twin Cities boosters say the anointed 2008 running mates would have the perfect location to launch the campaign in Minneapolis-St. Paul, pushing off on a riverboat down the Mississippi River to "campaign through the heartland of America." And New Yorkers say that the time-tested Big Apple has hosted more political conventions than any of the competitors and is confident it can handle both party conventions in '08.

A couple of highlights from the comparison graphic:

Hotel Rooms: Denver: 38,000; St. Paul/Mnpls: 35,000; New York: 71,000

Climate downsides:

• Denver: The thin air can trigger altitude sickness
• St. Paul: Pack the bug spray. The mosquito is the state bird.
• New York: Brutally hot, humid and smelly

As a former New Yorker, I will only add that New York is not always hot and humid in August...