Dallas official: Denver's the frontrunner for 2016 Republican convention

Provided By: Bizjournals.com

Denver -- which learned Thursday that it's one of four cities still in the running to host 2016's Republican National Convention -- should be considered the frontrunner at this point, says a key official with Dallas, another finalist city.

That's the view of Phillip Jones, CEO of the Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau, as quoted by the Dallas Morning News. Jones based his view on the fact that Denver held a successful Democratic convention in 2008.

But he was swift to add that the GOP's site pickers "are very keen on Dallas." He added: “It’s going to be a tough competition."

The comments may amount to little more than we're-the-underdog gamesmanship, since many political analysts see Dallas as the current frontrunner, in part due to the area's wealth and ability to donate the funds needed to stage the convention.

Also on the Republicans' short list are Kansas City and Cleveland. GOP officials will spend several days in each city in advance of picking one by late summer or fall; Denver's site visit is slated for June 9-11.

Las Vegas and Cincinnati withdrew in advance of Thursday's announcement -- reportedly as their elimination seemed inevitable, partly because of issues involving their arenas where the convention would be held.

Also, reports in the Los Angeles Times and elsewhere say Vegas faced objections from some GOP social conservatives over the city's sin-friendly image. It says that some party leaders also took note of Nevada Republicans dropping anti-abortion and anti-same-sex-marriage planks from their party platform.

Leaders in all four finalist cities are talking up their chances to host the four-day event, which will bring in tens of thousands of delegates and media personnel and pump millions into the local economy.

Here's what leaders of the three other finalist cities have to say about their chances, as compiled from the DBJ's sister news outlets:

• Cleveland: Local leaders touted the favor shown by the GOP as a sign of the city's rebirth. "There is no doubt that our city's renaissance is fully underway," said Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Cleveland also is a city in Ohio, a state that reliably votes for the winning presidential candidate from either party, and it's common political wisdom that a national convention can help a party's chances in a swing state (even though it's often not true). And Cleveland has already raised most of the estimated $50 million to $60 million needed in convention staging funds.

• Dallas:"It's still a very tough competition and Dallas is still the underdog," Jones tells the Dallas Business Journal. "At the end of the day, Denver is a tough competitor and Kansas City and Cleveland has been working on this bid for the past year. We will put our best foot forward and make Dallas an easy decision at the end of the day."

Dallas' urban sprawl could be a key factor in the decision, and unless the GOP holds the convention in July, it will impose significant commute times on attendees. The American Airlines Center in Dallas is unavailable in June. And there's the fact that a Dallas convention would do little to boost the GOP's presidential election chances in already-Republican-friendly Texas.

• Kansas City: " We're eager show [the GOP], and the world, all that this region has to offer," Mayor Sly James says in the Kansas City Business Journal.

But the Kansas City Star notes that there are concerns about a lack of close-in hotel rooms and the fact that KC is the only one of the four finalists lacking a rail transit network.