Democratic Convention Watch <> Democratic Convention Watch: It was New York’s for the taking…

Thursday, January 11, 2007

It was New York’s for the taking…

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

Interesting article from Newsday, saying that New York could have had the convention if any of the bigwigs had even tried to get it:

In the end, New York’s political potentates weren’t willing to dig for the gold necessary to keep the 2008 Democratic convention from migrating to the Rockies. Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean announced Thursday that the August 2008 convention would be held in Denver, despite the Mile High City’s dearth of hotel rooms and surfeit of union troubles.

Neither Mayor Michael Bloomberg nor New York’s marquee Democrats, including Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, were willing to lead the $100-million fundraising campaign needed to attract the convention. “There was no meaningful effort by Bloomberg or Clinton or anyone else to get this,” said one national Democratic operative close to the negotiations, requesting anonymity. “It was New York’s for the taking, but no one stepped forward.”

As I’ve been noting, both Bloomberg and Clinton had a vested interest in the convention not coming to New York. Well, they got what they wanted.