| A month after we noted that NC Governor Bev Purdue has lobbied DNC Chairman Tim Kaine about having Charlotte host the 2012 Democratic Convention, discussions about a potential convention bid have continued in North Carolina: The issue surfaced again last week during a City Council meeting when [GOP Mayor Pat] McCrory told the audience he had spoken with Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. Denver hosted the Democratic National Convention last summer. “Before we can seriously consider either convention, we need details about the cost,” McCrory said. “It cost a lot of money. We need to evaluate the return on investment.” Charlotte said officials anticipate that the Democratic National Committee will start seeking bids in the next two to three months and select the site in 2010. McCrory said the city could also submit a bid for the Republican National Convention. -Charlotte Observer
Charlotte bid for the 2000 GOP convention, but didn't get it due to a lack of hotel rooms. At the time it had 17,000, but now the "region" has 30,000 hotel rooms. As a comparison, Denver in 2008 had 40,000 rooms, Boston in 2004 had 35,000 rooms. (The Democratic convention always needs more rooms than the GOP convention). The other thing to note is the timeline. The DNC announced the dates for the 2008 convention in early November, 2005 (first ever DemConWatch post!), and sent invitations to bid for the convention in late November. Expect a similar timeline this cycle. |
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