Congratulations to Cleveland on being awarded the #GOP2016 convention. But you still aren't getting @KingJames back!
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 8, 2014
@daveweigel Philly NYC Mpls Tampa and now Cleveland. RNC always chooses a state they're going to lose
— jbeck (@geffbeck) July 8, 2014
Way to make yourself popular with the locals, Rubio. (Man’s got a gift.)
Per Politico, the DNC will be doing site visits all summer:
… Democratic National Committee CEO Amy Dacey will lead a delegation, including technical experts, to each of the sites.
They will start in Birmingham, Alabama, on July 21-22.
Then the group heads to Ohio for a four day swing, spending August 4-5 in Cleveland and August 6-7 in Columbus.
They’ll travel to Brooklyn on August 11-12, Philadelphia on August 13-14 and finish in Phoenix on September 10-11…
I’m assuming that Cleveland is now out of the mix, and probably Columbus as well. Not my decision to make, of course, but I do think Birmingham would be an excellent choice to annouce at the end of this Freedom Summer anniversary.
(Addendum for those who take pride in not reading links — Weigel is dissing the convention, not the city:
.. [H]ere’s what you need for a convention: an arena, a downtown, and an airport. Cleveland has all of those things. Unlike Tampa, host of a 2012 Republican convention that stranded delegates as far as 45 minutes away from the arena (seriously, and I was with the Iowa delegation), it spreads in a nice ameba pattern with no pesky bays or gulfs taking up real estate. In July, when this convention is likely to be held, average temperatures only rise to 80 or so—10 degrees cooler than Tampa, with far fewer hurricanes…
Plus, it’s Cleveland. It’s great!…
Mr Stagger Lee
Oh God Why? God, hasn’t been Cleveland been shit on enough?
David Koch
Ya gotta admire the way Reince Previous sabotages the RNC from within
David Koch
Also too, San Diego in 1996.
BruceFromOhio
1. Take their money.
2. Feed them leftovers.
3. Clap for the horny.
4. Rock on.
Welcome to Cleveland, RNC, enjoy your stay.
Mike in NC
While channel surfing tonight I landed briefly at MSNBC just as Tweety was fellating Mitt Romney, who he hopes will run again in 2016. Useless sack of 1%er shit (both of them, that is).
LT
What better subterfuge than a national convention for republican party vital interests to best pour money in the pockets of the right people in the grand old swing state of Ohio? I guarantee you Karl Rove is burning to avenge his 2012 election night meltdown.
DISCLAIMER: I am not the original LT, just have yet to chang my moniker. Last time it’ll happen, OLT.
columbusqueen
I beg to differ–I think Columbus is now the likeliest pick for the Dems. No way they can let the tea party crazies do their shindig in Ohio without a direct counter.
KG
@Mr Stagger Lee: it’s the hellmouth drawing them to it
lamh36
Been watching music videos since I got home.
Found this list and been “attempting” the dancing all night…lol
I love this list!
14 Music Videos With “Attempt-able” Choreography
#1 of course: Thriller
youtube.com/watch?v=sOnqjkJTMaA
KG
@columbusqueen: isn’t it sort of tradition that they don’t do them in the same states?
Art
Cleveland, we’re not Detroit!
youtu.be/ysmLA5TqbIY
youtu.be/oZzgAjjuqZM
gnomedad
Canadian jihadi.
columbusqueen
@KG: Not that I recall–I think once they were both in NYC, within a few weeks of each other.
Kay
They all have to buy a suit, too. This one:
Eric U.
I like Cleveland. It could be better if they hadn’t removed so much land for parking, but it’s still pretty nice
The Sailor
Um, there is that Great Lake. Cleveland is considered by touring bands as “the mistake by the lake.”
“Hello Cleveland” is a joke, insert Drew Carey joke wherever your funny bone requires it.
tratclif
@KG:
from a quick look at wikipedia, in post-WWII conventions, the Democrats and Republicans picked the same city in 1948, 1952 and 1972. So not impossible for the Democrats to select Columbus still.
Jay C
I’ve seen some comment online today that the most interesting thing about the planned RNC in 2016 isn’t its location (Cleveland is as good as anyplace, I suppose), but the unusual timing the GOP PTB seem to want to push on the Party – they want to get the primaries over and the Convention rolling AFSAP – perhaps as early as June 27 (the last national Party nominating Convention held in June was in 1944); certainly no later than mid-July. It seems to have something to do with UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH! I gather*, but it seems odd to (perhaps) give the Democrats an extra month or two to hone their
negative-campaigning hatchet-jobs,appeals to the public’s sense of civics.srv
In other news:
JGabriel
Am I seeing something that isn’t there, or does the GOP always pick cities for their conventions that have lots and lots of strippers?
Edited to Add: Based on the above criteria, I’m guessing the RNC will select Portland, OR for the 2020 convention.
tratclif
@JGabriel: @JGabriel:
I don’t know about strippers, but Cleveland has a busy gay leather scene.
JGabriel
@tratclif: There’s a lot of overlap there. No pun intended.
Citizen_X
@JGabriel: There are cities without lots of strippers?
⚽️ Martin
@Citizen_X: I think it’s the busy gay leather strippers that makes Cleveland particularly appealing to the GOP.
PaulW
STOP PISSING ON TAMPA YOU F-CKERS. /headdesk
In the meantime, I seriously suggest the Democrats consider New Orleans (nice convention center with enough hotels to support the event).
lamh36
Ok, so Obama is in Denver and seeing a couple of pics, I’m just thinking, “wtf..secret service”?
First there was the pic of some guy wearing a horse’s head mask and shaking Obama’s hand. Ok, that’s no biggie I guess, but isn’t it a bad idea to have a face covered like that in the presence of a POTUS, espeically when the SS has no way to background check everyone on a random walk-about by POTUS?
Here’s the pic of the horse’s head guy: @theonlyadult 12m
Hey man, Obamacare covers this condition now. pic.twitter.com/bbiSHOUXb1 via @sparksjls
But then the next pic I see is of some woman reacing across a couple of people and putting what I assume is a business card in POTUS’ front pocket and maybe the SS was out of frame, but I assume it’s not a good idea to reach for the POTUS to place something on his person, without a least a SS arm being there?
@petesouza
“Here’s my business card”: Pres Obama greets pedestrians in downtown Denver
MikeBoyScout
Team (D) should choose Cleveland. The available contrast is a winner.
Also too, Ohio is an ObamaCare state because the (R) governor acted “unilaterally” to expand Medicaid after the Republican legislature prohibited expansion.
Freepers have a big sad over that.
PaulW
Places I’ve been to with large-sized convention centers:
1) Chicago
2) San Francisco
3) San Diego
4) New Orleans
5) Orlando
6) Washington DC
Tampa, I’ll admit, is half the size of Orlando (I was surprised the GOP went with Tampa instead of Orlando, considering Orlando has a huge evangelical crowd). I’d put San Antonio’s about the size of Tampa, a little bigger but not much. After that, Ft. Lauderdale’s convention hall not that huge. I can’t recall ever going to Miami’s convention center even though it was right down the road.
Higgs Boson's Mate
First Prize: A week in Cleveland!
Second Prize: Two weeks in Cleveland!
Thank you, William Claude Dukenfield.
Citizen_X
@PaulW:
Amen. There’s all of Florida to piss on!
trollhattan
Cleveland, city of light, city of magic
Cleveland, city of light, you’re calling me
Cleveland, even now I can remember
‘Cause the Cuyahoga River
Goes smokin’ through my dreams
Suffern ACE
I like Cleveland. Rock and Roll hall of fame and 1/2 way to Pittsburgh.
trollhattan
@PaulW:
Uh, no?
Bobby Thomson
@tratclif: Aside from the fact that Columbus is a completely different city from Cleveland. 1972 wasn’t exactly a great experience for the Democrats. More to the point, it’s asking a lot of a city to host one political convention, let alone two.
Columbus. It’s a no-brainer, even as much as I hate Ohio State. Other than Phoenix, the other choices aren’t in states approaching any shade of purple. Arizona does not deserve to host the Democratic convention, and environmentalists shouldn’t be sending thousands of people to an area that is already beyond its carrying capacity.
Birmingham is by far the worst choice on the list. In addition to it being 160 degrees with 99% humidity during the convention season (and not that far from hurricane paths), it’s one of the most difficult cities in the country to fly into and has limited hotel space (and virtually no luxury hotel space). Just a real head scratcher.
David Koch
Pittsburgh could be a good location.
because of it’s location, it allows you to simultaneously target west pennsylvanian, east ohio, and west virgina.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@lamh36: Sorry, BCI’s idea of “attempt-able” and mine differ. No way in hell I could ever do most of that, so I would never attempt it.
Bobby Thomson
@PaulW: They sent out feelers to several cities, including New Orleans, early in the process. . The six cities now under consideration were the only ones to submit bids.
Cacti
Fun fact:
The Republicans have lost every state where they’ve held their convention since 1996:
1996 – California
2000 – Pennsylvania
2004 – New York
2008 – Minnesota
2012 – Florida
May the trend continue.
Suzanne
I am SOOOO hoping that we get the Dems here in Phoenix. It would be very inspirational to many people here, especially many undocumented immigrants, to have the Dems here. Also, we have a huge, really nice, new convention center, right across the street from Chase Field and US Airways Arena, and lots of hotels, all right downtown.
It would feel like a reward for all the anti SB-1070 protests and pressuring Brewer not to get her gay hate on. The Dems here work really hard. Hey, my district gave y’all the first openly bisexual member of Congress.
David Koch
I can’t see it being held in Brooklyn. Traffic is miserable. Plus the arena is named after an investment bank, Barclays.
Phoenix – it was 110 degrees (that’s not a misprint) last year, during the first week of September.
Birmingham was slightly better, it’s was 97 degrees.
Columbus – weather was nice, it was in the low 80s. It has a good arena and nearby hotels. though it doesn’t have as many direct flights as Philly.
Philly – the arena isn’t in philly, it’s in south philly. people have told me traffic and the humidity is terrible. But it’s only a short train ride for much of the east coast.
Overall, Columbus should be the location
NotMax
Buyer’s remorse will set in as as soon as it sinks in that it’s the home of the Browns.
Even more ironic is that the stadium now named Progressive Field is in Cleveland.
VOR
@David Koch: Um, 2008 RNC convention was in St. Paul, not Minneapolis. Weigel got the right state, wrong city. Although downtown St. Paul near the convention was locked down tight so many of the unofficial events were held in Minneapolis.
gogiggs
@The Sailor: Sure, there’s a lake, but all of Cleveland is on one side of it. That’s the point. In Tampa, Tampa and St. Pete are on different sides of Tampa Bay and there is much driving around or over required. Cleveland might require some driving alongside the lake, at worst.
“Hello, Cleveland” is a joke because of This Is Spinal Tap and has nothing to with actual Cleveland or any qualities thereof. If Tap had decided to say “Hello, Detroit” or “Hello, Pittsburgh” it wouldn’t have changed the joke in any way and that would now be the joke people made.
Cleveland’s physical location doubles as a metaphorical one, 3 hours east of Detroit and 3 hours west of Pittsburgh. Halfway between actually pretty nice and urban hellscape.
debbie
@David Koch:
Ed Rollins was pretty upset about the choice of Cleveland. He wanted the convention in Dallas to commemorate Reagan’s nomination there. Always forward-looking.
debbie
@Bobby Thomson:
Columbus is the only other Democratic oasis in Ohio, certainly more friendly to Democrats than Phoenix. I’d hate to see Jan Brewer pulling strings to mess things up.
NonyNony
Everyone saying that the convention should be in Columbus SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!
Do you want to lose this state in 2016? If you do, have your goddamn convention here. Everyone will fucking hate you and will actively vote against you because when political candidates come to this city they fuck up our traffic. W goes to Dayton for a fundraiser and flies into Columbus? Traffic is fucked for hours. Obama comes to give the graduation speech at Ohio State – somehow traffic – on a fucking Sunday – gets fucked up for hours. It happens every goddamn time and I swear that when Presidents come through this city they lose a percentage point or two off their approval ratings just by traveling through.
Cleveland’s a fucking sprawl around the lake, and so the damage that a political convention can do to day-to-day life is isolated. Columbus is a well-planned city that doesn’t sprawl nearly as much, and the downtown area (where the convention center is) is a thriving area where people live and work at things completely unrelated to convention center activities. Having a normal convention there is great because it’s great for business. Having a convention that requires massive amounts of security is going to be awful for everyone who lives in the city.
Please go somewhere else. Anywhere else. Please, for the love of Grod stay away from Columbus!
JGabriel
@PaulW:
Florida is America’s low-hanging flaccid schlong. We don’t piss on it, we piss through it.
JGabriel
NonyNony:
Except for that traffic thing?
‘Cause that’s a pretty big except.
Another Holocene Human
On the plus side, I heard at work this weekend that LeBron was definitely going home, so thanks to Marco Rubio for clearing that up!
HeartlandLiberal
Democratic convention in Birmingham, Alabama? I am a native of Birmingham. Fled the state in 1969 after graduating from Birmingham-Southern College (still a great school, I might add). Have visited regularly since and stayed in touch with family and friends. And I say with full confidence, anyone thinking of a hosting a presidential convention in Birmingham is OUT OF THEIR ***** MIND!
Birmingham is pretty much a bankrupt, decaying city, from which all the money has fled to the suburbs. The suburbs in the county refuse to even consider an expanded municipal government, because they know better. County and city officials for the past two decades have repeatedly been nailed for the most insane acts of financial corruption available.
Central downtown streets in the heart of the city that I walked as a child, that were filled with movie theaters and shopping stores that covered entire city blocks, are now decaying, with store fronts literally falling in. In the area north of city center, government district is OK, and to the southwest of it are major high rise business buildings: that people commute to from over the mountain, and flee from back over the mountain to the south before the sun goes down to their nice homes in the suburbs in the valleys that stretch to either side of I-65..
To the south of city center is I will hurry to acknowledge a world class medical school that is part of the University of Alabama in Birmingham. And I still love to go up in the statue of Vulcan that stands on Red Mountain and overlooks the valley the city is nestled in.
But seriously. Birmingham failed the test of history during the Civil Rights Movement. It resisted the future. And it has paid the bitter price, all the while watching Atlanta become the major hub of commerce and urbanization Birmingham could have been.
Thanks, Bull Conner. I still hope you are enjoying your stay in the warmer climes of Hades.
another Holocene human
@PaulW: why not? Aside from Ybor City, there’s no there there.
They also tried to charmingly outlaw homelessness and van the public from public spaces.
Tampa loves to call itself world class but in reality they’re Florida’s ass.
another Holocene human
@gogiggs: That’s okay, the Allegheny Institute is working on making Pittsburgh a modern metropolis just like Detroit.
Paul in KY
@tratclif: They have some nice tittie bars (or used to).
Paul in KY
@NotMax: Cleveland is the most Democratic city in Ohio. Lots of people there who hate Republicans.
gbear
@VOR: A lot of the really popular restaurants near the republican convention in St Paul were really pissed about the lockdown status of the whole convention. They actually lost business that week because the conventioneers spent ZERO time exploring the neighborhood; they just shuffled from their busses to the convention behind chain link fence and heavy protection, while the Ramsey County Sheriff played gestapo with the protestors. Happily, the sheriff lost his next election.
A lot of the conventioneers did stay in Minneapolis during the convention. They have lots more hotels than St. Paul. I think they were spread out in the suburbs too, probably near the Mall of America. Almost everyong had to be brought in by chartered bus. The convention was horrible for St. Paul’s reputation as a very blue city, and the local businesses got shafted.
artem1s
NOT happy about this…did not want the clown car of the GOP hanging around and bringing their ammosexuals out of the woods from down state. ewwww!
this might make up for it…
plz let it be so.
Also, we handled a major portion of the city shutting down for filming Captain America II last summer so this probably won’t be a problem. It would be nice if Fitzgerald was the hosting governor rather than Kasich but I’m not holding out much hope for that.
bupalos
@trollhattan: Just a side note from an actual clevelander; all of the inland ports that have petroleum industries have had their rivers “catch on fire” multiple times, some intentional burns, some not. As the home of some of Rockerfeller’s Standard Oil Corp’s oldest depots, Cleveland had a couple nice big ones there just as the environmental movement was taking off, and that’s the only reason that it got such national recognition and is a “thing” now. And it was a good thing, because Lake Erie came roaring back after some of the regulations that resulted took hold. Unfortunately Erie is kind of back under siege, this time from invasive species and excessive phosphorus from agriculture. Well, really mostly from Republicans who want to prevent any regulatory response this time and cut funding for monitoring and cleanup.
I do loves me some Randy Newman though.
TCG
Thank God, they aren’t coming to Dallas!