How are the cities for the national conventions chosen and what effect does this have on the. election?

Transcription

1 Wood 1 Cayman Wood Paper 2, Final ENC1122, Beckerman October 24, 2012 How are the cities for the national conventions chosen and what effect does this have on the election? How did these cities apply to be elected? What are the criteria for being selected? Hundreds of thousands of red, white, and blue balloons are waiting to drop from the ceiling, as if America itself is waiting to rain down upon the crowd of thousands. These thousands of people are waiting to hear one very important person give a speech. Meanwhile, hundreds of protestors are outside, marching through the streets yelling and waving picket signs. The rioters want nothing more than the people inside to see the politician and his campaign from their point of view. Along with millions of dollars being spent and donated to make this event happen, over the span of four days, a single city also makes millions of dollars when it is chosen as the location for a party s national convention. These events happen only once every four years, and occur toward the end of the campaign trail when the final two politicians battle it out to become president. The events are known as the Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention. Why are these events so prevalent in the lives of millions of Americans every four years? Who cares where the event is actually taking place? How is the decision even made to choose the cities? Not only do these two four-day periods create an economic boom in the city at which the national convention is held, but these days are also two of the most important events in the candidates campaigns. The speeches every American waits to hear are from the presidential

2 Wood 2 nominees for the next term. This year s nominees are incumbent President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney. Deciding where to hold a party s national convention is not an easy decision. The primary goals of the conventions are to nominate and confirm the candidates for Vice President and President, to adopt a party platform, and to unify the party. The process of where to hold each convention can take up to a year to make a final decision. Throughout the year, members of the parties committees go from city to city, getting the full celebrity treatment while in that city. Major economic benefits come out of having the convention in your city. Millions of dollars flow into the city where the convention is held when supporters of that party travel there, spending money on hotels, food, drinks, entertainment, and of course, the convention. Additionally, the party holding the convention spends a fortune on the venue and supplies. For example, the Greater Tampa Bay area earned a profit of 175 million dollars from the direct spending of the Republican National Convention, and the area around Charlotte earned about 150 million dollars from the direct spending of the Democratic National Convention. When selecting the right city for each convention, the committee members take into consideration: the infrastructure of the city itself, the convention hall, and adequacy of hotel rooms, transportation, and security. Another dominant selling point is the number of electoral votes that will come out of the state/ area surrounding the convention site. The way the Republican Party selects their convention city is through an eight member Site Selection Committee. This committee of eight was chosen back in August of For this year s conventions, planning and bidding started way back in January of Tampa Bay and Company submitted an inch-thick bid to the RNC to host the convention. RNC chair Michael Steele, as quoted by NPR on May 12, 2010, said the Tampa area "boasts state-of-the-art

3 Wood 3 facilities, exciting and vibrant downtowns, and a clear enthusiasm from the community to host our convention." It wasn t formally announced until August 6, 2010 that Tampa, Florida was chosen for the Republican National Convention over Salt Lake City, Utah, and Phoenix, Arizona. Tampa, Florida had not been so lucky to be chosen for the Republican National Convention location in the past two elections. The city put in bids to host the national convention in both the 2004 and 2008 elections. Although the city didn t get the vote either year, it might not have been a bad decision for Tampa to be by-passed both times before. With Florida as being said as one of the most important states needed in the electoral vote to win the 2012 election, it could prove possibly beneficial to the Republican Party to have their convention in Florida this year. Florida is an important state in the 2012 election for many reasons. The first reason is because last year, Florida voted democratic. Florida is known to be a swing state, meaning it really could vote either way democratic or republican. There is a good possibility that Florida could vote republican this election since the Republican National Convention is being held in Tampa this year. Florida has been a deciding factor in several past elections including the 2000 and 2004 elections. Both of those years, Florida s popular vote had less than 5% between the two parties. As of October 15, 2012, Florida is said to be at about a 49.3% rating in favor of Romney. North Carolina, surprisingly because the Democratic National Convention was held there this year, is also leaning to the right, with 50% of the state voting for Governor Romney. Overall, though, with all of the swing states combined, even with both Florida and North Carolina leaning towards the right, a poll by Politico shows that 57 out of 110 electoral votes seem to be leaning towards the left and President Barrack Obama. Politico is an American political journalism site

4 Wood 4 that was started by John F. Harris and Jim VandeHei who left The Washington Post to start this organization in On the Republican National Convention website, it was said, 2012 will mark the third time the Republican Party convenes its convention in Florida. The Sunshine State also played host to the 1968 and 1972 Republican National Conventions that nominated Richard M. Nixon. Both were held in Miami Beach. In 1968, Reagan, who was running for Presidential nomination, only needed 11 more delegate votes to win, and those final delegate votes ended up coming out of Florida, where the Republican National Convention was held that year. This past track record is favorable for Governor Romney and his hopes for earning the presidential office this November. Going forward four years from 1968, to the election of 1972, the Republican National Convention was held in Miami Beach, Florida, yet again. The Democratic National Convention was also held in Miami Beach. This was the sixth, and to date, last time both parties have held their conventions in the same city. The four cities that were chosen as finalists to hold the Democratic National Convention in 2012 includes Charlotte, North Carolina; Cleveland, Ohio; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and St. Louis, Missouri. The University of Minnesota published an article online on December 6, 2010, that said, Obama carried Minnesota, North Carolina, and Ohio, and lost Missouri by less than 4,000 votes. A little bit later on in the article, it says, Since the first Democratic convention in Baltimore in 1832, the Democratic presidential nominee has lost 23 states that hosted the convention while winning 22 (although each of the last five). It was officially announced on February 1, 2011 that Charlotte, North Carolina would hold the 2012 Democratic National Convention. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the leader of the

5 Wood 5 Democratic National Committee, verified in an interview that North Carolina was still chosen, although said to be controversial, due to their banning of same-sex marriage starting on May 8, Schultz stated that it is a critical battleground. Phoenix, Arizona was an original contender for the Democratic National Convention, but was quickly removed from the list of possibilities because of President Obama s and Arizona s Governor Kaine s opposing thoughts on the anti-immigration laws. It was said that once Kaine abolished the law, Phoenix would be back on the contender list, but until then, Obama believed the law, Undermines basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe, as quoted by the USA Today on April 23, Tony Romm, a technology reporter for Politico, said, The DNC and RNC have evolved considerably since their television debut. They [the conventions] are now highly stylized, choreographed processes that jockey for as much media coverage as possible, and over the years, the events have shortened in length. As technology becomes more and more prevalent in our everyday lives, major events such as the conventions, are evolving to better suit the demand for more event coverage. Like Romm said, the conventions are more geared to those watching it on television, making sure the backdrops and crowds look perfect, as opposed to simply worrying about the speeches themselves. Before television, conventions were only heard in person or over the radio. There was not as much pressure to make sure the backdrops and crowds were as sharp and nearly as perfect as could be. Comparing the media coverage of the campaign trail of 2012 to the election of 1968, it is interesting to see just how much time and technology have changed. In the novel, Miami and the Siege of Chicago, Norman Mailer portrays himself as a third party outsider simply watching over

6 Wood 6 a reporter as the reporter details events of the 1968 election. Mailer describes Nixon s arrival in Miami by saying, Not more than ten reporters and a dozen photographers showed up. With the Nixonettes and even Ana the elephant at Nixon s welcome, there were few media reporters present at the event. In comparison with how many reporters showed up to the conventions in the election of 2012, it is crazy to think only ten reporters welcomed Nixon to his convention city during the 1968 election. The cities holding the national conventions these days not only have to prepare for large crowds, but they have to prepare signs for the crowds as well. Since people aren t allowed to bring in their own signs, there are workers that make signs and pass them out to the convention delegates. This is so intriguing seeing as how much time and effort each city has to go through with making signs. Since the signs are shown on television, the signs at the convention are only in favor of the candidate and his party. Along with large crowds comes the need for more security in cities holding a party s national convention. Both Tampa and Charlotte received federal grants for $50 million each simply for more police and SWAT team members to patrol the cities in order to ensure the safety of both civilians and the politicians. In a breakdown of how the $50 million was spent, a diagram on the Tampa Bay Times website said, $1,921,594 was spent on protective gear, including helmets, face shields, and body armor. Continuing, the diagram reads, $516,200 was spent for the cotton uniforms. Over half a million dollars was spent on uniforms alone. That is an absurd amount of money being put to waste for matching uniforms for a four-day event, yet the need for everything to look uniform and perfect shows that not even the smallest detail is left unnoticed during a campaign today. With conventions being more available to the public, whether it be live, televised,

7 Wood 7 radiobroadcasts, or through the use of networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, the Democrats seemed to take a different approach towards their convention this year. The Democratic National Convention kicked off a couple of days early with CarolinaFest2012. This was a free, family-friendly event in Charlotte where visitors could become acquainted with the host city, as well as celebrate and honor hard-working Americans during that Labor Day weekend. The Republican Convention ran from August Across the four-day event, there were notable speakers such as Ann Romney, Mike Huckabee, Condoleezza Rice, and Paul Ryan. The Democratic Convention was held a week after the Republican Convention, on September 3-6. The incumbent party has held their convention after the party not in office since Although it is no rule against the order, it has been a long- standing tradition. Across the fourday event, some of the notable speakers there were Michelle Obama, Bill Clinton, John Kerry and Joe Biden. Of course, as per usual, each of the presidential candidates gave their speeches on the very last day of the conventions. While the Democratic and Republican National Conventions are very different in their platforms, they are also similar in many ways. They are both trying to appeal to as many delegates as possible, and in recent years, trying to be as publically broadcast as possible. One of the biggest similarities, though, is the fact that choosing where to hold each national convention is no easy decision, and the process of choosing the proper location often takes many years. Up until the day before these immense political conventions take place, everything from the backdrops to the speeches, to the lighting of the room is being perfected. Although crowds of Americans wait for hours upon hours of the prolonged event to hear whom the official presidential nominee of the party is, they generally have a good idea of whom the chosen ones

8 Wood 8 are going to be before the announcement. Even still, Americans from all over the nation come to these conventions to witness history being made. Not only is the presidential nominee making history, but the cities where the event is taking place is going down in the history books as well. Choosing where to have the conventions could be said to be almost as important as choosing the presidential nominees. After the 120,000 or more balloons have fallen, the crowds have left, and millions of dollars have been spent, the cities where the conventions were held return to a somewhat normal state. The nominees have been officially announced, and all that s left on President Obama and Governor Romney s presidential campaign agendas are three debates followed by the November 6 th election day. With November 6 th having come and gone, Obama came out on the top of the race with 332 electoral votes over Romney s 206 electoral votes. Strangely enough, the states that hosted each party s national convention voted in favor of the other party s candidate. Florida s ballots, like years past, proved to be difficult to count and get a definite number. Eventually, however, it was announced that the Sunshine State had voted democratic, in favor of President Obama, despite being the location of the Republican party s national convention. Likewise, North Carolina s efforts to win voters votes for the Democratic Party and President Obama proved futile. Despite being the location of the Democratic National Convention in the 2012 presidential election, North Carolina voted in favor of Governor Romney and the Republican Party. Perhaps there is no rhyme or reason behind the correlation of a candidate s election to the presidential office and the location of his party s national convention, yet the importance of both the location and the convention itself hold true election after election. While the location of a party s national convention can be influential to winning votes for their candidate, the

9 Wood 9 conventions also provide American voters with vital information about candidates that helps voters make an educated decision about which candidate will receive their vote.

10 Wood 10 Works Cited "About CarolinaFest." Charlotte in ARCOS, Web. 10 Oct Appleman, Eric M. "Site Selection Process." Race for the White House. Democracy in Action, 1 Feb Web. 13 Oct Appleman, Eric M. "The Site Selection Process." Conventions. Democracy in Action, Web. 08 Oct Danielson, Richard, Jessica Vander Velde, and Lee Glynn. "Security Spending for the 2012 Republican National Convention." Tampa Bay Times Web. 09 Nov "Jim VandeHei." POLITICO. Web. 10 Oct Mailer, Norman. Miami and the Siege of Chicago. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, Print. Morrilland, Jim, and Celeste Smith. "Democrat Leader: DNC in Charlotte Is No Accident." Democratic National Convention: Charlotte. CharlotteObserver.com, 6 June Web. 13 Oct Ostermeier, Eric. "Location of Democratic National Convention Unlikely to Boost 2012 Vote in Host State." Smart Politics. University of Minnesota, 6 Dec Web. 08 Oct "RNC Site Selection and Economic Benefits For Tampa." Economic Development Blog. EconomicDevelopmentHQ.com, 27 Aug Web. 08 Oct Romm, Tony. "2012 Republican and Democratic National Conventions: Being There Beats Online." POLITICO. 6 Sept Web. 13 Oct Rudin, Ken. "RNC Site Selection Cmte Recommends Tampa-St. Pete For 2012 GOP Convention." NPR. NPR, 12 May Web. 10 Oct

11 Wood 11 Warga, Craig, Kristen A. Lee, Celeste Katz, and Josh Greenman. "2012 Republican National Convention." NY Daily News. 26 Aug Web. 09 Nov