CHARLOTTE, N.C.-- Charlotte leaders are courting Democrats with vigor, hoping to get picked to host the party's national convention in 2012. But some other cities have taken a more skeptical approach, even declining to bid for the conventions. They've cited tight budgets and the headaches that residents would have to endure, among other drawbacks.
In May, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter declined to have his city bid for the 2012 convention. In a letter to the Democratic Party, he cited "the extraordinary economic challenges we are facing," the "impact on local residents and businesses," and "diversion of attention and resources away from key initiatives of my administration."
"You've heard the adage that you've got to spend money to make money," said Doug Oliver, the mayor's spokesman. "But if you don't have it, that makes it difficult to do."
In January, Orlando declined to bid for the 2012 Republican convention. In a letter to the Republican Party, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and Orange County Mayor Richard Crotty said that although the convention "would provide a great deal of positive economic impact, we feel pursuing a bid at this time would not be financially prudent given the state of local budgets and the growing strain on our philanthropic community."
The Florida mayors also said the convention site would be tied up by lengthy set-up and tear-down periods that could put it out of commission for three months, forcing the city to lose out on other conventions. They also were concerned about potential effects on the hotel industry.
"Hosting this convention would require that an enormous amount of hotel rooms be reserved beginning almost immediately as part of the selection process with, understandably, no guarantee that Orlando would be chosen as the host site and that those rooms would eventually be filled," the mayors wrote. "This 'hold period' on hotel rooms could put an undue burden on our hotel partners as they work to overcome the effects of the economic downturn."
Will Miller, acting executive director of the "Charlotte in 2012" group, said Charlotte is taking a realistic approach to its ability to host the convention and the benefits it will gain. "You can't do apples to apples comparisons for different cities' motivations," Miller said. "Every city's situation is different."
Even before the recession, cities sometimes found reasons to decline to bid. Four years ago, Los Angeles decided not to bid for the 2008 Democratic convention, said Jack Kyser, chief economic adviser at the Southern California Association of Governments. That's partly because when the city hosted the Democrats in 2000, it came up short on raising the promised funds. New Orleans pursued the 2008 Democratic convention before dropping out to focus on post-Katrina rebuilding.
The national conventions, held every four years, are where a political party officially nominates its presidential candidate. The Republicans already have picked the Tampa Bay area for their 2012 convention. The Democrats are deciding among Charlotte, Minneapolis, St. Louis and Cleveland, with a decision expected late this year.
It's not clear if Charlotte's status as a finalist carries any significance. The Democratic Party declined to say how many cities expressed interest in bidding for this convention or previous conventions. The Republican Party did not return calls seeking comment on the same question. But some economic and political experts believe that there must be fewer bids.
For one thing, cities suffering through a recession are getting wise to the enormous expense of hosting a political convention. When the party picks a host city, one of the major considerations is how much money the city has promised to raise. The money largely comes from private sources, but psychologically, it's still hard to raise money for a political convention when public cost-cutting is so common.
The Campaign Finance Institute's latest review of convention finances found that about 80 percent of the money raised for the 2004 conventions came from private sources, excluding a federal grant that each party got for security. In 2004, local and state governments in the Boston area put up no money to host the Democrats, according the CFI, which is affiliated with George Washington University. New York City put up $7.9 million to host the Republicans.
"The parties love this," said Larry Sabato at the University of Virginia. "They drum up competition, and they save money. I think a lot of localities have caught on."
The bidding process also means that the cities' egos get involved, Sabato said. "You want to win, even if you may take a bath financially and your local population may hate you for it," he said. "Plus your local leaders get to meet everyone, so they have a lot to win."
There is an apparent lack of "first-tier" cities such as New York or Los Angeles or Chicago in either party's list of finalists this time around. (The Tampa Bay area beat out Phoenix and Salt Lake City for the Republicans.) Some political experts say that's an indication that fewer cities are bidding; however, it could simply indicate that these smaller cities are better equipped for such mega-events than they were 10 or 15 years ago.
Costs vs. payoff
Many of the potential benefits of a national convention are tenuous. For example, Charlotte tourism officials say that landing the Democratic convention could generate $150 million to $200 million for the local economy. That would far exceed the costs: Those officials also are saying they'll need to raise about $40 million to $45 million from private sources.
Miller, of the Charlotte in 2012 group, emphasized that the costs to the city itself would be minimal, with donations coming in from corporations and individuals across the country. Jim Rogers, the CEO of Duke Energy and co-chair of the campaign, said he would ask for money and in-kind contributions from North Carolina's 14 Fortune 500 companies as well as businesses, unions and individuals from across the country.
However, economists say the potential benefits may be overstated. Some past studies suggest cities with similarly lofty estimates have come up short after hosting political conventions. Costs including paramedics, crowd control and cleanup always eat into the gains. And national convention delegates are not always big spenders - at least not outside of the convention. At the 2000 Democratic convention in Los Angeles "all the hotels gave cut rates to the delegates," said Kyser, from the Southern California governments group. "And then they didn't go out and spend on restaurants or gifts because there were so many free gifts."
There's also the annoyance factor for local residents, who will have to deal with snarled traffic and large parts of uptown being fenced off. There's a good chance that a national convention will draw protesters and security threats, especially in the wake of the 9-11 attacks.
A "No DNC" group in Minneapolis appears to have a political agenda, but it's appealing to residents' concerns over the logistical headaches, too. "Wanna save the Twin Cities from another costly police riot? ... You're invited to a meeting to work on losing Minneapolis the bid!" the group wrote on its website. (Minneapolis hosted the Republican convention in 2008, which included some arrests of nonviolent protesters.)
Miller said his group will work hard to anticipate and reduce any potential inconveniences from the convention, which is expected to bring about 35,000 visitors. "Over 175,000 people come to Charlotte for the CIAA (basketball) tournament, and we seem to handle it fine," Miller said.
Don Fowler, a former Democratic national chairman from Columbia, said the costs will be high for getting the main venue in shape.
"You have to go in and tear out all the seats in one side and completely restructure it and build a podium and put in the lights and the camera stand and build all the network booths and it is an exceedingly expensive process," said Fowler, who oversaw the 1988 convention in Atlanta. "And then when the convention is over they have to return it to the regular configuration."
But Fowler supports having the Democratic convention in Charlotte. "It's a hell of a lot of trouble," he said, "but the payoff is huge."
It can be a trial run for hosting bigger events, he said - like with Atlanta, which hosted the Olympics eight years after hosting the Democrats. And it brings media from all over the world, who will presumably write stories about the host cities.
"You do get millions in free publicity," said Sabato, the University of Virginia. professor. "But what does that yield? Wouldn't everybody in the financial industry already know about Charlotte?"
