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Divided We Stand

Divided We Stand
New book about the 2020 election.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Convention Cities

National party committees pick convention sites with an eye to influencing the electoral votes of the host state. By drawing media attention and helping local business, the thinking goes, the convention will sway nearby voters to support the party's nominee. This approach seldom works. In the flat world of new media, locals get as much convention news as people on the other side of the world. And as for the "gratitude" factor, the enormous hassle that goes with a convention more than outweighs any local business benefit. The St. Paul Pioneer Press looks back:

The 2008 Republican National Convention hardly left a mark on Minnesota's political landscape.

It didn't turn the state from blue to red. On the contrary, Barack Obama carried Minnesota by the largest margin of any Democrat in recent history.

And the convention, which started a year ago today, didn't boost the fortunes of Republican candidates down the ticket.

"From a political standpoint, I'm not sure there's any lasting impact," Ron Carey, the state Republican Party chairman who stepped down this spring, said Monday.