Wednesday, May 17, 2006

More on Orlando’s decision not to bid for the convention

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

Orlando seems to have gone out of its way to publically explain in detail why they’re not bidding for the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Well, there’s more, in an internal memo written to Orlando’s mayor, Buddy Dyer:

City of Orlando Continue Reading...

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Dallas explains their decision

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

Dallas was always been a bit conflicted about whether they were going to bid for the 2008 Democratic National Convention, so it was not suprising when they dropped out last weekend. Today’s Dallas Morning News has more on the decision:

Don’t expect the nation’s political parties to party here just yet. Continue Reading...

Monday, May 15, 2006

Is New Orleans’ election getting in the way of a bid?

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

You’re New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin. You’re in a huge election battle, that many expect you to lose. Your primary runoff is in 5 days, on May 20. Oh, and by the way, your city’s proposal to host the 2008 Democratic National Convention is due the day before the election, on May 19. And the main reason the Democrats might come to your city, Katrina, is the reason you might lose the election. And some think that if you win the election, you won’t get the bid anyway.

Will New Orleans get a bid in this week? There’s been absolutely no news on any activity by New Orleans to prepare a bid, so it’s hard to know what’s going on. Continue Reading...

Saturday, May 13, 2006

Michigan Senate passes resolution urging the DNC to pick Detroit

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

Well if the DNC can listen to people’s opinions at parties, they can certainly listen to the opinion of the Michigan State Senate (pdf):

Senate Resolution No. 134.
A resolution to urge the Democratic National Committee to consider Detroit as the host site for the 2008 Democratic National Convention. The question being on the adoption of the resolution. The resolution was adopted. Continue Reading...

Saturday, May 13, 2006

Dallas drops out – and then there were 6

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

I wrote back in February on Dallas’s lack of committment to bidding for the 2008 Democratic National Convention, and now it’s finally official, Dallas is out. From Democracy in Action:

Frank Poe, CEO of the Dallas Convention Center City of Dallas, stated in a May 1, 2006 e-mail, “Dallas is not preparing a bid for either meeting for 2008. Current business activity in our primary convention facilities do not provide the dates needed for either meeting………We believe 2012 would be a better time period for Dallas to prepare bid documents for these two important meetings.” Continue Reading...

Friday, May 12, 2006

Proposals due in 1 week

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

The deadline for submission of proposals by cities who want to bid for the 2008 Democratic National Convention is in 1 week, on May 19. It’s not clear if submission of the proposals will be made public or not, but in 2004, a number of cities did make their proposals public:

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg presented the City’s bid to McAuliffe in a ceremony in the main lobby of Grand Central Station on the afternoon of April 11. Miami, Boston and Detroit hand delivered their bids to DNC headquarters in photo ops on April 12. Baltimore FedEx’ed its proposal in. Continue Reading...

Friday, May 12, 2006

Minneapolis web site poll: Minneapolis should get convention!

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

The Greater Minneapolis Convention & Visitors Association’s web site promoting Minneapolis’ bid for the 2008 Democratic National Convention is running a poll to see if the convention should go to Minneapolis. As of this evening, 84% of the voters think Minneapolis should get the convention. I’ll check it again in a few days to see if supporters of the other cities can knock that percentage below 50%.

Update: Well the commentor below said NO was at 61% at one point, but I never saw YES under 70%, and right now its back at the original 84%. Continue Reading...

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Is a Detroit bid in question?

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

Detroit’s political leaders have held meetings to look at the feasibilty of bidding for the 2008 Democratic National Convention, and the Detroit Free Press gives an update:

How about the 2008 political conventions? Or maybe even the 2016 Summer Olympics? Continue Reading...

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. Continue Reading...

Friday, May 05, 2006

Wedgewood labor comments causing a bit of a stir

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

I noted yesterday that some labor unions in Denver are concerned about Denver’s bid for the 2008 Democratic National Convention since none of the hotels in Denver are unionized. But a labor leader seemed to present a moderate approach:

“This is not, ‘Don’t even bother, throw Denver out the window,”‘ said Leslie Moody, president of the Denver Area Labor Federation. “We want to see this convention encourage the city to take the wages and benefits of our lowest-paid workers more seriously.” Continue Reading...