https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R8EDfVn738
The Republican National Convention’s Site Selection Committee announced on Wednesday that two cities — Cleveland and Dallas — remain in the running for the 2016 convention. Ryan Mahoney, GOP Deputy Press Secretary, broke the news on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/rcmahoney/statuses/481860348224757763
Prior to the announcement Denver’s 9News incorrectly reported that Cleveland and St. Louis were out of the running while Denver and Dallas remained on the list.
NEW: #RNC2016 will go to Dallas outright tomorrow, or it’ll be Dallas/Denver competing to host. http://t.co/3RFrihBBd1 #9news #COpolitics
— Brandon Rittiman (@BrandonRittiman) June 25, 2014
GOP Press Secretary Kirsten Kukowski disputed the report on Twitter.
This story is wrong, stay tuned later today for an announcement on next steps for GOP nat'l convention http://t.co/lRVrcX8b1n
— Kirsten Kukowski (@kakukowski) June 25, 2014
Cleveland is also in the running for the Democratic National Convention. The last time both major party conventions were held in the same city was in Miami in 1972.
On a pair of websites pitching the city to the Democrats and Republicans, Cleveland stressed the importance of Ohio in national elections. The Cleveland DNC 2016 site says, “In 2012, Democrats won Ohio by only 166,000 votes. No county in Ohio cast as many votes as Cuyahoga, the county encompassing Cleveland. Nearly 70% of those votes went to President Obama, the highest percentage in the state. Without Cuyahoga County, the road to the White House is nearly impassable.” The city’s Cleveland RNC 2016 pitch says, “In the 2012 presidential election, no county in Ohio cast as many votes as Cuyahoga County, the county surrounding Cleveland. In that election, a voter swing of as little as 15% in Cuyahoga County would have turned Ohio red.”
Dallas, on the other hand, is selling the city as a destination that’s “ready” for a convention: “As a Top-5 U. S. destination for meetings and conventions, Dallas is poised and ready to host the 2016 Republican National Convention. Millions visit our city each year, and as the second fastest growing city in the nation with $15 billion in uninhibited development, Dallas is bigger and better than ever.”
Following today’s meeting of the RNC’s Site Selection Committee, Chairwoman Enid Mickelsen released a statement saying that after extensive review, “the site selection committee has chosen Cleveland and Dallas as finalists for the 2016 convention. ” Mickelsen added that, “Cleveland and Dallas demonstrated their ability to host a phenomenal convention in 2016, and the RNC is excited about the prospect of hosting our convention in either of these great cities. ” She thanked Denver and Kansas City for the hard work they demonstrated in their bids for the convention.
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