Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Better keep a block of hotel rooms open for Florida

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

We’ve been watching with amusement the game of chicken the DNC is playing with Florida over its early primary. Florida’s early primary violates the DNC’s rules, so the DNC has responded by saying Florida will not get any delegates, going so far as to not assign a hotel for the Florida delegation. In fact, to find out how many delegates Florida is supposed to get, I had to go to the Florida Democratic Party web site, which shows that Florida will get 210 delegates. (The DNCC site shows 0 delegates for Florida).

But in reality, the DNC is trying to support an illusion that is about to be burst. Here’s Nancy Pelosi, who will be the Permanent Chair of the convention: Continue Reading...

Monday, December 17, 2007

Mile Radius Lockdown Nightmare

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

Like Matt, I was amazed at the proposed mile radius security zone mentioned in this weekend’s Rocky Mountain News article about starting Denver Public School’s late next year.

Here is an approximate view of what a mile radius looks like around the Pepsi Center.

Even if you’ve never been to Denver it’s obvious what a nightmare a mile radius lockdown would be. Maybe the Denver Police Department isn’t big on geometry and meant a mile diameter lockdown? While a 1/2-mile radius would still cause havoc it would be far better than a 2-mile wide loop covering a large majority of downtown Denver. Continue Reading...

Monday, December 17, 2007

$15 million goal met… next goal is in March

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

After meeting their December goal last Friday, DNCC fund raisers don’t have time to pat themselves on the back. According to CW2 the next fundraising goal is to raise $13 million by March 17th.

“We’re talking to individuals, large corporations, small businesses,” said Wedgeworth. “It’s a comprehensive approach to raising a lot of money.” Continue Reading...

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Mile wide lockdown around the Pepsi Center?

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

This post was going to focus on the Denver Public Schools potentially delaying their start date by 2 weeks next year (from Aug 8 to Sep 2) because of the convention. But lets look a little closer at the reason for the concern:

Denver Public Schools leaders are asking for public input on whether to delay school next fall for two weeks because of security surrounding the Democratic National Convention. The convention, slated for Aug. 25-28 at the Pepsi Center…is expected to draw 35,000 people. Continue Reading...

Friday, December 14, 2007

Denver expects to meet $15 million goal

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

Security funding may be on the horizon:

Denver city officials say they expect to meet Friday’s deadline to have $15 million in hand for the 2008 Democratic Convention. Continue Reading...

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Wyoming Governor planning on attending convention

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

Wyoming’s Democratic Governor Dave Freudenthal will make the 100 mile trip to Denver after not attending a convention since 1984. Although he will attend it doesn’t sound like he’s too enthusiastic about it.

“I heard from a couple of my daughters, as well as my wife, that I was planning to go to the convention,” he said. “I just wasn’t aware of that at the time.” Continue Reading...

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Hotel Assignment Map

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

If you’re curious as to whose hotel is where and aren’t familiar with Denver I’ve created a map that shows the approximate location of all of the hotels.

All of the downtown hotels are shown in the top left of the map. It looks like 21 delegations got spots downtown. *Michigan may lose their rooms Continue Reading...