Tuesday, January 31, 2006

From a superbowl to a convention?

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

Can hosting the Superbowl give Detroit a leg up on its bid for the 2008 Democratic National Convention? Susan Sherer, executive director of the Super Bowl XL Host Committee, who wrote the winning superbowl bid when she was at the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau, thinks so:

For her part, Sherer thinks the legacy of the Super Bowl — and the various corporate and government actors it brought together — will pay off in other events in the future. Continue Reading...

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Convention Facility Requirements

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

Here’s a summary of what the DNC is looking for in a facility for the 2008 Democratic National Convention:

• “Bowl” seating arena of at least 340,000 sq ft, with seating for 25,000
• 100 sky suites
• Minimum of 250,000 sq ft of indoor workspace in immediate proximity to Convention Complex for Media Workspace

We’ll discuss other requirements in later posts, and try to analyze if any of the cities bidding for the convention are seriously deficient in any areas. Continue Reading...

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Why no news on other cities?

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

It’s been awfully quiet on the convention front. There has been no news of additional cities accepting an invitation to bid on the convention. What suprises me is that you would think most cities would want it public that they are going after the convention – See Denver and Orlando for examples. So why have there been no other news reports of cities accepting the invitation to bid for the convention?

While it’s possible that the DNC will release a large list of cities at any time, making this all moot, until then, I wonder if maybe the list of cities that actually want to host the convention is rather small. Hosting political conventions has become a very difficult task, especially with the increased security that is now required. Is it possible that only two cities are even interested in hosting the convention? Continue Reading...

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Orlando accepts invite to bid for the convention

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

Orlando has accepted the invitation to bid for the 2008 Democratic National Convention. From the Orlando Sentinel:

Late Thursday, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, a Democrat, sent a letter to his party’s chairman confirming the City Beautiful’s interest in hosting the 2008 Democratic National Convention. By Friday morning, Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty, a Republican, was announcing his own hope of bringing a convention here — the Republican National Convention. Continue Reading...

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Invitation update

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

So far Denver and Orlando have accepted the invitation to bid for the convention. That leaves 33 cities left to be heard from.

Posted by Matt at 3:46 PM Continue Reading...

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Denver is first to accept invitation

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

Denver has accepted an invitation to bid for the 2008 convention. They are the first city to publically announce they will be be bidding for the convention:

Mayor John Hickenlooper today sent a letter to DNC Chair Howard Dean formally indicating that Denver is interested in bidding for the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Continue Reading...

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Invitation acceptance deadline on Friday

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

The deadline for cities to accept an invitation to bid for the 2008 Democratic National Convention is this Friday, January 13. While I’ll be the first to admit this is not the most newsworthy event happening this week, I find it interesting that I have been unable to find any news on any city either accepting or not accepting the invitation. Atlanta, Detroit, what say you? Denver, New Orleans, are you in the game or not? Houston, New York, what’s it gonna be folks, yes or no?

Posted by Matt at 8:52 PM Continue Reading...

Friday, January 06, 2006

Democratic Underground discussion of convention sites

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

Just found this discussion of potential convention sites over at Democratic Underground. Cities mentioned include Atlanta, New Orleans, Indianapolis, Phoenix, Denver, Minneapolis, Miami, and Las Vegas.

Personally, given my comment below about the Republicans going to Anchorage, this comment is one of the best: Continue Reading...