The GOP has announced that they will hold their 2012 convention the last week in August, starting August 27.
If you do a Google search for "convention 2012 aug 27", what do you see? A post I did almost 4 years ago urging the Democrats to pick this week for their 2012 convention.
Whats the fourth entry in Google? A post I did 2 months ago, urging DNC Chairman Tim Kaine to announce August 27 as their 2012 convention date.
This forces the Democrats to hold their convention the first week in September, up against school starts and the opening week of NFL football. And it could all have been avoided...
Utahn Bruce Hough relinquished his spot on the selection committee for the 2012 Republican Convention because Salt Lake City has been named one of the three finalists for the massive political gathering....Republican National Committee rules don't allow any city to stack the deck, so an Alaskan is taking Hough's place. -Salt Lake Tribune
Dems have begun accepting bids for their own convention, but they have yet to take even preliminary steps in picking through those cities. DNC chair Tim Kaine has not even set up a site selection committee yet.
Seriously, what is the DNC waiting for? Are they not planning to have a traditional convention in 2012???
Houston officials, along with the new administration, are now discussing the possibility of hosting a 2012 convention. If the city decides to move forward, a bid would then be submitted to the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee, if the RNC will still accept our bid since the deadline has passed.
"There are many factors to be considered when going after a major political convention," said Greg Ortale, president and CEO of the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau. Ortale, who has been involved in four political convention bids including the Minneapolis/St. Paul bid for the 2008 Republican National Convention, understands the osts associated with these events. ... "We need to assess the realistic chances of a successful bid and if it is the wisest and best use of community resources -- both on the convention and on improving our infrastructure."
Does this mean they were for the convention before they were against the convention before they were for the convention?
The convention would be held in late August or around Labor Day of 2012.
It's not an official statement, but what does this line tell us? Well remember, the party in power, this cycle the Democrats, gets to have their convention second. (It's just an unwritten agreement between the parties). In 2008, the Democrats early on (November 2005) announced they were taking the last week in August, forcing the GOP to Labor Day week, and a McCain speech the same day the nation's attention was turned towards opening day in the NFL.
Now if the GOP was truly focused on the last week in August, that would force the Dems to the first week in September. September is an especially bad month for the Democrats, as a they have a relatively high proportion of teachers among their delegates.
But if the GOP announced they were going the first week in September, that would put the Democrats in a real bind. The second week in September starts to hit legal deadlines for finalizing November ballots. Going before the GOP would deprive the Democrats of their second position. But I don't think the GOP wants to have their convention the first week in September, so I don't think this scenario will happen.
So what should the Democrats do? Same thing I recommended last month, and almost 4 years ago. Announce the Democratic convention for the last week in August, and force the GOP to go 1 week earlier. Phoenix or Tampa in mid-August? Hot enough for you?
The Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority board unanimously supported making a formal bid for the convention later this year, soliciting a request for proposal and formally declaring the city’s interest to party leaders.
Mayor Anthony Foxx will lobby for the event for the public sector, while Duke Energy Chief Executive Jim Rogers will lead the private fund-raising campaign. To host, Charlotte will need to raise $50 million, organizers say.
Mayor Pro Tem Susan Burgess has been pushing for a Charlotte campaign for months. Burgess, a member of the national party, distributed buttons and posters last year, stirring interest among Democrats. The pitch for Charlotte will include North Carolina’s support of President Obama in 2008, making him the first Democratic presidential candidate to win the state in 32 years.
I think Charlotte remains the front-runner for the convention, purely based on the state's political significance.
While there are probably several cities in the mix that we don't know about here is a list of those we do know are interested:
That’s because Orlando officially withdrew its name Thursday from bidding for either party’s next national convention.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, a Democrat, and Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty, a Republican, sent letters to both parties, basically saying that neither government can afford the $50 million or more it will cost to host the events.
And more important, the region’s beleaguered tourist industry can’t risk setting aside massive numbers of hotel rooms or cordoning off convention space for an event that may never materialize.
“It is simply the unfortunate economic reality that these long-range commitments could hurt the recovery for our tourism industry,” the two mayors wrote in a joint letter to Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele. Democrats received basically the same letter. - Orlando Sentinel
While there are probably several cities in the mix that we don't know about here is a list of those we do know are interested:
Monday was the deadline for cities to express interest in hosting the 2012 Democratic National Convention
The DNC will solicit more information from those cities, including their capacity to host such a huge event, and that data will be evaluated by a technical advisory group, party officials said. A certain number of cities will receive site visits, and party leadership will make a final decision. - Philadelphia Inquirer
Phoenix is interested in either convention
Phoenix is submitting an initial bid today to host the GOP convention, and Mayor Phil Gordon informed Democratic Party leaders earlier this week of plans to vie for their 2012 gathering.
Neither party has held its convention in Arizona, but local boosters say new hotel rooms, the convention center's $600 million expansion and the new $1.1 billion light-rail system have put downtown Phoenix in prime position to host such an event. Although organizers would have to raise tens of millions of dollars to put on a convention and all its festivities, recent history has shown the events are an economic windfall. - Arizona Republic
Charlotte appears to be pushing hard to host the DNC.
Queen City leaders are moving forward with plans to submit a bid to host the next Democratic National Convention in 2012.
...
After mulling over the topic for months, the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority decided to submit a letter of interest this month to the Democratic National Party in hopes of getting the convention. Over the phone Wednesday, Tim Newman with the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority told city leaders that Charlotte was moving forward with the bid process.
"We expect we'll be putting our proposal in sometime in the spring and then they'll do site visits and we expect a decision to be made sometime this summer," explained Newman of the process. - News14
Tampa will bid for the Republican National Convention
After being rebuffed by the national Republican Party twice, Tampa officials on Friday will submit a bid to host the 2012 Republican National Convention.
"We should be a contender and hopefully the third time will be the lucky time," said Al Austin, a developer and Republican fundraiser who led the failed efforts to bring the 2004 and 2008 conventions here. - St Petersburg Times
It should be interesting to see exactly how many cities bid for the conventions. In 2008, the Republican convention had 4 bids according to the above article while the Democratic convention had 11 cities express interest and 3 actual bids.
It may be an easy choice this time around if only a couple of cities bid for each convention.
U.S. Rep. Bob Brady said today that he expects Philadelphia will be one of the cities competing for the 2012 Democratic National Convention.
Brady said he had spoken with Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine and Philly will be asked to submit a proposal to host the event.
“He told me that he was glad to hear that we were interested,” Brady said. “We’re going to try. They’re going to send us an (Request for Proposals). We’re going to put our minds together.”
But Mayor Nutter said that a city bid is not a sure thing yet, noting that a convention is an expensive event.
"We'll take a look at the materials from the DNC. Obviously it would be a lot easier if the DNC would guarantee that it would not cost the city a dime," Nutter said. "We still have a city to run." - Philadelphia Daily News
While it may be expensive, both 2008 convention cities came away with a profit. A list of past cities invited to bid can be found here.
You can read more stories about the 2012 Democratic National Convention here.
Update: The last time Philadelphia hosted the convention was 1948, although it also hosted the 1982 mid-term convention.
DemConWatch has a new favorite reporter: Kristen Hinman of the weekly St. Louis Riverfront Times. Why? Because she knows how to cut through the chaff to find the important news:
Now that 2010 is afoot, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay wants your take on the biggest news-makers of 2009, a la Time magazine's "Person of the Year". In his weekly poll released today, Slay asks you to pick from his pre-fab list of last year's biggest game-changers. ... [But] if you're an astute consumer of news, there's one whopper of a potential game-changer in there that might have jumped out at you.
And it is:
St. Louis mulls bid for a national political convention.
Hizzoner has been chatting it up with mayors in other cities that have hosted political pow-wows, says his flack, Kara Bowlin. But Bowlin says she doubts the city will make a bid this time-round.
And an actual on-the-record quote from within a City Hall! Very rare. While it doesn't sound like St. Louis will go forward, and I would guess the number of hotel rooms would be a problem for the city, our kudos go out to Ms. Hinman, and she should be an example to all you other local city hall reporters out there. Talk to your contacts - are your cities thinking about bidding???
Over four years ago, then DNC Chairman Howard Dean set the date for the 2008 Democratic Convention in November, 2005. His choice of the last week in August forced the GOP to hold their convention in early September, where they ran into cranky media and NFL conflicts.
With the Democrats getting to hold their convention second in 2012 (the unwritten rules say the party in the White House gets to go second), in order to avoid the same thing happening to them in 2012, Kaine needs to announce the same late August week (starting Aug 27) right now. This would force the GOP into the middle of August, right after the Olympics, or even better yet, they might go in July. If Kaine and the DNC don't act soon, the GOP will take the week from them, forcing the Dems into September. What is Tim Kaine waiting for?
More news from yesterday's DNC meeting. As we told you yesterday, the DNC plans on all but removing superdelegates for the 2012 Presidential primaries. They're also working on removing any chance of what happened last year in Michigan and Florida. Any changes made probably won't matter in 2012 but could save the party from headaches in 2016.
Iowa Democratic leaders expect the state’s precinct caucuses will remain first-in-the-nation in 2012 and beyond following the final meeting Wednesday of a Democratic National Committee panel recommending changes to the delegate-selection process.
“Iowans should continue to be cautiously optimistic about our first-in-the-nation status,” Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Michael Kiernan said. “While the Democratic National Committee evaluates shifting the schedule of primaries and caucuses to later in the year, I expect Iowa will remain the first caucus.”
However, he warned the Change Commission recommendation that Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Caroline have their caucuses and primaries beginning Feb. 1 and other states start their delegate selection processes no earlier than March 1 is not the final word.
The recommendations go to the Rules and Bylaws Committee, which next meets in February. Its recommendations will go to the DNC over the summer. State party leaders expect a decision in the fall of 2010, prior to mid-term elections.
Even then, the lineup won’t be set, one party official said. Just as Michigan and Florida ignored the DNC schedule in 2008, some states may choose to jump ahead of Iowa and New Hampshire.
The Change Commission is recommending the DNC offer incentives for states to follow the party calendar by offering, for example, preferred seating and hotel accommodations at national conventions - Quad-City Times
Update: Frank Leone, a DNC member from Virginia, has a great writeup of Wednesday's conference call at his site DemRulz. He's also got DNC Chairman Kaine's press release about the recommendations.
They may not go away completely but won't have the power they used to if this comes to pass.
A commission of Democratic leaders on Wednesday recommended their party virtually eliminate superdelegates from their presidential candidate nomination process.
Their proposal -- commissioned by the Democratic National Committee in the aftermath of last year's tough primary season -- would essentially make the "superdelegate" post an honorary position.
Consequently, these powerful party leaders could no longer select the candidate of their choice; rather, their votes would be tied to the outcome of their respective states' primaries, which choose winners by popular vote. - The Hill
You can read more of our Superdelegate coverage here.
The Commission approved a draft report that recommends converting most automatic unpledged “superdelegates” to pledged delegates who will fill slots reflecting the voter preferences in their state’s primary or caucuses – thus becoming automatic, pledged, voting convention delegates. The DNC Rules and Bylaws Commission (RBC) will consider the Commission’s report and then forward proposed delegate selection rules to the DNC for action later in 2010.
Superdelegates: The draft report proposes a new category of National Party Leader and Elected Officials (NPLEO) delegates who will serve as full voting delegates to the national convention. The current proposal thus backs off from the prior proposal which would have made superdelegates non-voting delegates. The current add-on unpledged delegate positions that were filled at state conventions would be eliminated. Each state would receive a number of additional delegates (NPLEOs) that is equal to the number of its current automatic delegates – including all DNC members (elected, at large, state party chairs and vice chairs, and DNC officers), members of Congress, Governors, and Distinguished Former Party Leaders. After the state has held its primary or caucus process and determined the percentage of delegates to be allocated to each presidential candidate, the NPLEOs, like the current At Large and PLEO delegates, would be allocated to those candidates. Each NPLEO then woukld have the choice of pledging to a candidate or not pledging to any candidate and participating in the convention as a nonvoting delegate.
Democrats and Republicans already are scoping out sites for their 2012 national conventions, and this time around Phoenix is on both parties’ short lists.
The fact that both sides are looking at Phoenix highlights Arizona’s future prominence on the electoral landscape. Democrats consider the state a pickup opportunity, and Republicans hope to make inroads among Hispanic voters. Arizona traditionally votes Republican and has not been considered a swing state since the Clinton administration.
The Democratic National Committee has sent introductory letters to dozens of cities, including Phoenix, Tampa, Charlotte, Memphis, Houston and St. Louis, according to sources.
Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee has sent their own letters to about 30 cities, inviting them to attend meetings at RNC headquarters, where city representatives will learn what it takes to become a finalist. Already, 10 cities have met with RNC officials. -AZCapitolTimes.com
Ten cities? That list has been kept pretty quiet.
An RNC spokeswoman refused to confirm whether Phoenix was among those 10 cities, but other Republican sources said it is among the cities that will be considered in 2012. ... Both parties are in the infant stages of selecting their sites. RNC Chairman Michael Steele has appointed members of the party’s site-selection committee, those who will be tasked with visiting each city to evaluate the locations. The committee is packed with close Steele allies; it is considered one of the juicier perks a chairman has to reward his backers.
Meanwhile, Democrats have not even picked a selection committee.
Neither party has ever held their conventions in Phoenix, but with 57,000 hotel rooms spread across nearly 500 hotels, according to the Greater Phoenix Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, the city could be attractive to either party.
Phoenix make some initial noise about hosting the 2008 Democratic Convention, but dropped out early, with a representative stating:
I think 2012 is more in line with our plans." He added, "I think we almost always ask for RFPs like this. We are the 5th largest city in the country, after all. Even when you are not proposing, seeing what the expectations are, what the requirements are, help you make a thoughtful proposal when you're ready -- as I believe we will be in 2012."
If you can't make it to [insert Convention city here] and will be in DC during the summer of 2012 this may be just for you...
A TWO WEEK ACADEMIC SEMINAR THE WEEK BEFORE AND OF THE DNC and RNC
Since 1984, The Washington Center has been the only academic institution providing an inside look at both national nominating conventions while assisting college students in involving themselves as active participants in the convention process. The Academic Seminar brings noteworthy speakers in each morning and places students in volunteer fieldwork placements with the party, convention committee, host committee, media, and many other convention related organizations and events. More Details in Fall of 2011.
Charlotte was one of more than three dozen cities the Democratic National Committee invited to consider applying to host the convention. Cities have until Jan. 11 to express interest. A host city is expected to be chosen at the end of 2010. - News & Observer
In mid-1997 a group called Carolinas 2000 sought to interest both parties in choosing the city. Charlotte failed to make the cut with Democrats after it became one of 27 cities asked to submit bids. It did make the short list of nine cities in the running for the GOP convention, and even drew a visit from the Republicans' site selection committee before it lost out to Philadelphia.
Another city that's getting some convention press is Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City is in the running as the possible site for the 2012 Republican National Convention, sources close to the effort have told me.
If it wins the bid, it would mean about 25,000 visitors coming to Utah's capital city in the summer of 2012 and a boost of millions of dollars to the state's economy.
The State Office of Economic Development made a presentation to the Republican National Committee's site selection committee about two weeks ago.- The Salt Lake Tribune
An interesting note from the article is that should Mitt Romney be the nominee it would emphasize his connections to the LDS Church which he tried to downplay last cycle.
Long time readers know that DemConWatch is the #1 source for convention news. Last year, a Democratic National Convention Committee employee told me she thought our site was the official convention site when she was hired.
We'll be doing the same in-depth coverage this time for both the Democratic and Republican conventions. Stay Tuned!
