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Monday, November 07, 2005

Dems to Move Back 2008 Convention Date

Posted by DavidNYC

From Roll Call (sub. req.):

Democratic Members are lauding their party’s unexpected decision to hold the 2008 Democratic National Convention in late August, saying that the later date should help the party level the playing field against the GOP.

In an unusually early announcement, the Democratic National Committee said Friday that the four-day presidential nominating event would be held Monday, Aug. 25 through Thursday, Aug. 28 — a full month later than the 2004 convention, which began in late July.

DNC officials said the timing allows the party to avoid competition with the 2008 Summer Olympics, while also providing the prospective Democratic nominee a not-too-lengthy period to sustain the traditional post-convention “bounce” in popularity. After the convention closes down, it will be only 68 days until Election Day.

I think this is a wise move, but the article leaves out an added crucial reason why this is a smart change. Though both Bush and Kerry turned down federal matching money during the "primary" campaign, both accepted federal money for the "general election." I put those terms in quotes because they mean very little - the primaries were over long before the technical FEC start of the general election season.

And that start date is kind of screwed up, because the clock begins ticking as soon as your party's convention is over - meaning that John Kerry was stuck with his final cash pool (I think it was $45 mil) for three months, while Bush had to make do with that sum for just two months. This change eliminates that problem.

As to the location, I'm still a supporter of Denver. The Roll Call story mentions that some Dems want to do it in New Orleans, as expected. I think it's a kind gesture, but it goes without saying that Colorado (and its western brethren) represent a good share of our political future as a party, while Louisiana does not. I'd rather see the Dems take back power in 2006 and pressure Bush to spend some serious money to really rebuild N.O. and the rest of the Gulf Coast.

Posted at 02:48 PM in 2008 President - Democrats, Democrats | Technorati

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Comments

It is a tough choice. I lean towards Denver for the reasons you specified, but N.O. is clearly the underdog crowd favorite.

Posted by: KansasNate at November 7, 2005 03:53 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I think the selection of a convention city only really matters if it is part of a larger strategy. The most successful example of this was the GOP bringing their convention to Detroit in 1980, as a piece of an electoral strategy. To that end, I think Denver would make a lot of sense IF, IF, IF this is part of a concerted strategy by the Democrats to put the West further in play as a swing region (and not just like going to Atlanta in 1988 but then not really doing anything to compete effectively in the South). Another city maybe that should be thrown in the mix is Phoenix (and yes, I'm aware of how hot it would be!). There's no reason that we can't move Arizona a shade closer to purple. Finally, I think a really potentially interesting choice (and they were a finalist a couple of cycles ago) might be San Antonio. Talk about both appealing to a huge swing group of voters in Latinos, and making a statement that we're not giving any ground. Wherever we choose, please make it somewhere other than New York/Chicago/LA/Boston, and part of a strategy to compete in a swing region.

Posted by: IndianaProgressive at November 7, 2005 11:56 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I've suggested a blue city in a moderate red state, which leaves 4 good choices in Denver, Cleveland, Miami and St. Louis.

I'm really , really opposed to NO. I simply do not believe that we should be using those good people as a political tool. I know they did it in NY in 04, but you know what where better than them and this is one area where I do not believe we should stoop to there level

Posted by: safi at November 8, 2005 12:15 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment