2008 Democratic National Convention
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- See also: 2008 Democratic presidential candidates and Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008
| 2008 Democratic National Convention | |
|---|---|
 Official Logo of the 2008 Democratic National Convention |
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| Date | August 25 - August 28 |
| Venue | Pepsi Center |
| City | Denver, Colorado |
| Presidential Nominee | Barack Obama of Illinois (Presumptive) |
| Vice Presidential Nominee | TBD of TBA |
The 2008 Democratic National Convention will be held from August 25 to August 28 at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. At its convention, the Democratic Party will nominate its candidates for President and Vice President of the United States. By virtue of his lead among elected delegates and superdelegates, it is presumed Barack Obama will receive the nomination for President.
By custom, the incumbent president's party holds its convention after the other party, with the first party's convention in July and the second party's in August. This year, the Democrats' convention is first, and will be held in late August because they want to hold the convention after the 2008 Summer Olympics and want to "maximize momentum for our Democratic Ticket in the final months of the Presidential election".[1]
Contents |
[edit] Formal leadership
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi will be nominated to serve as Permanent Chair of the Convention. Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, Texas State Senator Leticia Van de Putte, and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, will be nominated as Permanent Convention Co-Chairs. [2] The CEO of the Democratic National Convention Committee is Leah D. Daughtry.[3]
[edit] Rules
On February 2, 2007, the Democratic Party published "Call for the 2008 Democratic National Convention",[4] the rules governing the convention. There will be 3,409.5 pledged delegates, those committed to vote for a particular candidate, selected by primary voters and caucus participants. There will be about 823.5 unpledged delegates, those free to vote for any candidate, colloquially known as superdelegates, for a total of about 4,233 delegates, requiring 2,117 votes to constitute a majority of the convention.[5] The superdelegates consist of DNC members, Democratic Congress members and Governors, and other prominent Democrats.[6] The final number of superdelegates will not be known until the convention.[7]
The pledged delegates are allocated among the states according to two main criteria: 1) proportion of votes each state gave the candidate in the last three Presidential elections; and 2) percentage of votes each state has in the Electoral College. Fixed numbers of delegates are allocated for Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Democrats Abroad. Under the party's Delegate Selection Rules for the 2008 Democratic National Convention,[8] delegates are awarded via proportional representation with a minimum threshold of 15% of votes in a state or congressional district to receive delegates. The delegate population must reflect the state's ethnic distribution; and at least 50% of the delegates must be women.
[edit] Venue
The convention is to be held at Denver's Pepsi Center and will be the 100th anniversary of Denver's 1908 Democratic National Convention. William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska, who would go on to lose the election against Republican William Howard Taft, was nominated as the 1908 Democratic Presidential candidate.
[edit] Site selection
In late November 2005, 35 cities were invited by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to bid for the right to host the 2008 convention: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Memphis, Miami, Miami-Dade County, Milwaukee, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, St Louis, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC.[9]
Eleven cities originally accepted the invitation to bid for the convention in January 2006: Anaheim, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Las Vegas, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New Orleans, New York, Orlando, Phoenix, and San Antonio.[10] A formal Request for Proposal was mailed to participating cities on February 27 and the deadline for cities to respond was May 19, 2006.
Only three cities submitted proposals to host the convention: Denver, Minneapolis-St. Paul and New York. On July 12, New Orleans dropped out. The cities were visited by a 10-member Technical Advisory Committee in June 2006. On September 27, the Republicans announced they would have their 2008 convention in St. Paul, removing St. Paul from consideration; leaving Denver and New York as potential hosts. Despite hard lobbying by New York party boosters, then-Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg dealt the campaign a major blow when he announced the city lacked the financial means to support a convention.[11] Denver was chosen as the host on January 11, 2007, as Democrats looked to make gains in the "Purple West" states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico.
[edit] Preparations
The work to prepare Pepsi Center for the Democratic National Convention is expected to cost $15 million. In addition, a 220,000 sq. ft. temporary building to be used by the media will be built adjacent to Pepsi Center. [12]
Convention organizers expect 35,000 attendees, out of which 5,000 will be delegates, and 15,000 media personnel.[13]
[edit] Labor issues
The head of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local No. 7, Jim Taylor, refused to sign a no-strike agreement for the convention. Pepsi Center normally uses non-union labor, but will use Taylor's union during the convention, and Taylor wants Pepsi Center to use his union for all events.[14]
[edit] Brokered convention
Because of the close delegate count between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the possibility has arisen that this may be the first brokered convention in more than half a century, something DNC chairman Howard Dean is seeking to avoid.[15] The hypothetical situation of a brokered convention and a dispute over seating the delegates from two states has led some to compare it with the 1968 Democratic National Convention, which ended in a divided party and unhappiness over the outcome.[16] Another possibility is that the race could be decided by the first vote at the convention, as was the 1976 Republican convention.
[edit] Delegates from Florida and Michigan
The Florida and Michigan legislatures pushed forward their primaries to January[17] in contravention of party rules and were stripped of their delegates.[18] The Clinton campaign initially opposed their seating, stating they acknowledged that the delegates from neither Michigan nor Florida would count. However, after winning the Florida and Michigan primaries, Senator Clinton spoke in favor of seating the states' delegates (although no other candidate's names were on the Michigan primary ballot, besides Clinton's).[citation needed] DNC Chairman Howard Dean asked Florida and Michigan to submit a new plan for a process to choose the delegates, such as holding primaries again, or let the matter be referred to the Credentials Committee.[19]
Had neither Democratic candidate won the 2,025 elected delegates needed to secure the nomination by the end of the primary cycle, the Democrats may have gone to a brokered convention, at which the selection of the Democratic nominee could have fallen to superdelegates, Democrats who hold high elected offices and others appointed by the national party leadership. Had the superdelegates chosen against the candidate leading in the elected delegate count, some observers speculated that it could cause a schism within the party. Veteran Democratic consultant Tad Devine wrote in The New York Times that a "perception that the votes of ordinary people don't count as much as those of the political insiders, who get to pick the nominee in some mythical back room, could hurt our party for decades to come."[20][21]
[edit] Protest
[edit] Approved Protesters
An organization calling themselves Recreate 68 was approved permits to protest on May 20, 2008, although they originally protested the outcome of a lottery held for permits done on August 24, 2007.[22]
[edit] Lawsuit by Protesters
The American Civil Liberties Union, on behalf of itself, several anti-war and other organizations, has filed a lawsuit requesting that the Secret Service and Denver officials release information regarding security arrangements at the convention.[23][24] However, some groups, including two groups opposing abortion chose to delay filing suit after it was announced that their applications for permits are being processed.[25]
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Week In Review: National Organizing Kickoff a Great Success. democrats.org (November 11). Retrieved on 2007-12-28.
- ^ Democrats Announce 2008 Convention Chairs
- ^ Welcome to the New DemConvention.com. Demconvention.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-06.
- ^ Democratic National Committee (2007-02-02). Call for the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Democratic National Committee. Retrieved on 2008-01-21.
- ^ Democratic National Committee (2007-02-02). Call for the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Democratic National Committee. Retrieved on 2008-01-21.
- ^ “The Primary Season: 2008 Democratic Calendar”, The New York Times, <http://politics.nytimes.com/election-guide/2008/primaries/democraticprimaries/index.html>
- ^ A list of superdelegates can be found here at this site.
- ^ Democratic National Committee (2006-08-19). Delegate Selection Rules for the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Democratic National Committee. Retrieved on 2008-01-21.
- ^ Georgia Politics Unfiltered: Atlanta invited to submit a bid for the '08 Democratic Convention
- ^ News: Anaheim asked to make bid for Republican convention - OCRegister.com
- ^ http://www.cqpolitics.com/2007/01/cqpolitics_news_alert_denver_g.html
- ^ Dems will redo Pepsi center for national convention
- ^ Frequently Asked Questions. Demconvention.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-06.
- ^ Union head rankled by losing bid
- ^ "Democratic dead-heat 'not good news' says Dean", AFP, 2008-02-06. Retrieved on 2008-02-06.
- ^ Lochhead, Carolyn. "Brokered Dem convention looking more likely", San Francisco Chronicle, 2008-02-07. Retrieved on 2008-02-08.
- ^ Bell, Dawson (2007-08-30). Michigan's presidential primary set for Jan. 15. USA Today. Retrieved on 2008-03-06.
- ^ Goodnough, Abby (2007-09-09). Forewarned but Angry, Florida Democrats Weigh Primary Penalty. New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-03-06.
- ^ Pickler, Nedra (2008-03-06). Do-Over in Michigan and Florida?. Associated Press. Retrieved on 2008-03-06.
- ^ Devine, Tad. "Back Off, Superdelegates", The New York Times, 2008-02-10. Retrieved on 2008-05-04.
- ^ "Democrats fear superdelegates could overrule voters", CNN, 2008-02-14. Retrieved on 2008-05-04.
- ^ "Recreate 68 Gets 2 Protest Sites For Convention", Associated Press, CBS4Denver, May 20, 2008. Retrieved on May 30, 2008. (English)
- ^ Judge Puts Democratic Convention Lawsuit on 'Fast-Track'
- ^ Protest Groups File Suit for Right to Protest at Democratic National Convention. National Constitution Center mailing list (2008-05-30). Retrieved on 2008-05-30.
- ^ Ivan, Moreno. "Religious Groups Halt Lawsuit For Protest Permits", Associated Press, CBS4Denver, 2008-02-28. Retrieved on 2008-05-30. (English)
[edit] External links
- Official Convention Website
- Denver 2008 Host Committee (official)
- 2008 Democratic Convention Watch (unofficial)
- DenverDNC2008.com (unofficial)
- Coverage from the Denver Rocky Mountain News
- 2008 Delegate Website
| Preceded by 2004 Boston |
Democratic National Conventions | Succeeded by 2012 Location TBD |
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