Wednesday, May 10, 2006
DNC visits Minneapolis facilities
WE’VE MOVED! Democratic Convention Watch is now at http://www.DemocraticConventionWatch.com
Suprisingly, from the St. Paul Pioneer Press:
Two representatives for the Democratic National Convention on Monday visited St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center, Minneapolis’ Target Center and the Metrodome as potential sites for its 2008 presidential convention.
All I have are questions:
Who requested this visit: The DNC, even though site selection visits were not supposed to happen until the summer? Or Minneapolis, maybe getting some early feedback before they submit their proposal which is due on May 19?
Were the visitors part of the Technical Advisory Committee, or someone else?
Are any other cities being looked at before the May 19 deadline?
Posted by Matt at 9:20 AM 
maybe denver isnt in as strong position as people thought. looks like things are finally getting interesting! these types of ‘off the record’ activities by the dnc i think hold much more sway than a cocktail party…
There’s no doubt that many important parts of the selection process will be held in private. All we can do is report on what becomes public, and try to read the tea leaves on the rest.
my guess would be matt nugen and zoe garmendia as they are the 2 dnc staff memebers working primarily on the site selection process
I think that Denver and Minneapolis will be in it ’till the end, with New Orleans and Vegas and the other contenders droping out long before. Nagin seems like more of a liability for N.O. getting the DNC 2008 to me. My gut tells me that New Orleans will score the Republican National Convention, and that Denver will get us Dems. HOWEVER; I could see Denver and Minneapolis duking it out for rights to 2012. Matt, what do you think? Denver the new Chicago? Or Minneapolis scoring a re-election bid convention (DNC 2012)?
I think you may be right about Vegas, and maybe New Orleans dropping out, but I would not forget about Detroit and New York. I would expect both to make it to the final round.
Matt makes some good points; but I have a hard time painting Detroit into this race; because: they open up to many issues in regards to the automotive industry dominated market out there, and the DNC is trying to make some points about the environment. I’ve also heard that may have been some disapointment with Ford Field from Superbowl spectators.