Lots of convention news today, starting with the lead story in Politico’s Playbook:
DEMOCRATS are anxiously awaiting a decision by the DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE on which city will host the 2020 Democratic National Convention. So far, the committee has been mum about whether HOUSTON, MIAMI or MILWAUKEE will get the nod, but we hear part of the delay is because each city has its own downsides.
THE PAIN POINTS …
MIAMI: Dealing with hot weather and potential hurricanes is a major ding on the city’s bid. Plus, there is concern that the city’s arena has too small of a floor plan.
HOUSTON: The big question here is money. The oil and gas industry dominates Houston, and given Democrats’ posture on environmental issues, it isn’t necessarily a good fit for many of the city’s companies to cut large checks to host Democrats. And, of course, hot weather is also an issue.
MILWAUKEE: Still seen as the odds-on favorite, the midsize city has some organizers concerned about its ability to house the influx of people during the three-day event.
And Miami is making a last-ditch effort:
Still, the state’s Democratic congressional delegation has been pressed into service to persuade him. Hotel worker unions are also making a pitch to choose Miami — labor has a greater presence in the hospitality industry here than in Milwaukee.
Milwaukee officials play up their heartland connections and mild summers, contrasting those with Miami and the risk of hurricanes. It’s a talking point that irks Miami officials so much that they’ve researched historic storm data to make the case that hurricanes are a rarity in early July, when the convention would be held.
“Florida is a swing state. But we’re a swing region. The Midwest sticks together, and a convention has not been in the Midwest since 1996,” one Wisconsin official involved in the convention discussion said. “We are isolated from natural disasters. We don’t get tornadoes. We don’t get hurricanes. We don’t get earthquakes.”
As for Miami’s paranoia about Milwaukee, the official said, “they’re more confident than we are. It’s a jump ball … it seems to change every day.”
There’s a sense among Democratic insiders that Houston is out of the picture, a victim of muggier summers than Miami, a relatively small Democratic delegation and concerns about the specter of oil money funding a convention for a party that believes in climate change and scaling back fossil fuel use.
First Miami was out, now Houston is out?
And here’s the AP recap from Tuesday.
