The 2012 Conventions
Before the summer is out both of the major political parties will have formally nominated their candidates for President and Vice President in the fall election, though little remains in the way of mystery as to which candidates will represent the parties.
The first convention will the the Republican National Convention, which will be held in Tampa, Florida at the Tampa Bay Times Forum (where the Tampa Bay Lightning play.) The decision to hold the convention in Tampa was announced on May 12, 2010, when Tampa beat out Salt Lake City and Phoenix to become the host city.
Convention dates will be from August 27 to August 30, 2012. Protests are anticipated from the Occupy movement and other groups. Former Tampa City Council member John Dingfelder, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, said that the convention should expect to draw far more protestors and the city should plan on up to 10,000 protestors. Dingfelder encouraged the city to be proactive regarding where protests could occur and protestors could sleep. Tampa's Mayor Bob Buckhorn's response was "If they want a place to sleep, they can go home or to a hotel. Just because they want to occupy something doesn't mean we are obligated to provide them with an opportunity to camp out in a public park or on a sidewalk."
Mitt Romney captured enough delegates in the party's nomination process to have a lock on the nomination process. The mystery is who Romney will select as his running mate. In a poll in this community on May 3rd, eight of you made your predictions as to who Romney would select as his running mate, but I'll give you another chance at the end of this journal entry. (Matt Drudge of the Drudge Report jinxed my choice by announcing that Romney will select former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, so that probably means he won't select Rice now, but I think I'll still stick with my instinct in spite of this.)
The 2012 Democratic National Convention will be held from September 3 to 6, 2012 in Charlotte, North Carolina. On February 1, 2011, First Lady Michelle Obama announced the selection of Charlotte in an email to supporters. This is the first nominating convention of a major party held in North Carolina. Charlotte was one of four finalists announced by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) on June 30, 2010, the other cities being Cleveland, Minneapolis, and St. Louis. President Barack Obama won the state of North Carolina in the 2008 election by just 13,692 votes (out of more than 4.2 million votes cast).
The first three days of the convention will be held at the Time Warner Cable Arena. The final night, September 6, will be held at Bank of America Stadium, where presumptive nominee Barack Obama is expected to deliver his acceptance speech. On March 16, 2012 President Obama announced that he will retain his running mate Vice-President Joe Biden in the 2012 election campaign.
Protest activity and demonstrations are being anticipated at this convention as well. Over sixty organizations have gathered into a group known as The Coalition to March on Wall St South, and have declared their intention to protest at the convention. The city of Charlotte has passed a variety of new laws which include a prohibition against camping on public property and against possession a number of weapons, fireworks, smoke bombs, pepper spray, mace, masks, scarves, body-armor, helmets, and police scanners.
The conventions will be on us sooner than we anticipate. The polls remain close. A Gallup poll taken today has Obama at 47%, Romney at 45%, while a Rasmussen poll also taken today has Romney at 46% and Obama at 44%.
I'll end this entry by giving you a final opportunity to pick your guess as to who Mitt Romney will select as his running mate. Let's see who guesses right, we should know sometime next month:
The first convention will the the Republican National Convention, which will be held in Tampa, Florida at the Tampa Bay Times Forum (where the Tampa Bay Lightning play.) The decision to hold the convention in Tampa was announced on May 12, 2010, when Tampa beat out Salt Lake City and Phoenix to become the host city.
Convention dates will be from August 27 to August 30, 2012. Protests are anticipated from the Occupy movement and other groups. Former Tampa City Council member John Dingfelder, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, said that the convention should expect to draw far more protestors and the city should plan on up to 10,000 protestors. Dingfelder encouraged the city to be proactive regarding where protests could occur and protestors could sleep. Tampa's Mayor Bob Buckhorn's response was "If they want a place to sleep, they can go home or to a hotel. Just because they want to occupy something doesn't mean we are obligated to provide them with an opportunity to camp out in a public park or on a sidewalk."
Mitt Romney captured enough delegates in the party's nomination process to have a lock on the nomination process. The mystery is who Romney will select as his running mate. In a poll in this community on May 3rd, eight of you made your predictions as to who Romney would select as his running mate, but I'll give you another chance at the end of this journal entry. (Matt Drudge of the Drudge Report jinxed my choice by announcing that Romney will select former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, so that probably means he won't select Rice now, but I think I'll still stick with my instinct in spite of this.)
The 2012 Democratic National Convention will be held from September 3 to 6, 2012 in Charlotte, North Carolina. On February 1, 2011, First Lady Michelle Obama announced the selection of Charlotte in an email to supporters. This is the first nominating convention of a major party held in North Carolina. Charlotte was one of four finalists announced by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) on June 30, 2010, the other cities being Cleveland, Minneapolis, and St. Louis. President Barack Obama won the state of North Carolina in the 2008 election by just 13,692 votes (out of more than 4.2 million votes cast).
The first three days of the convention will be held at the Time Warner Cable Arena. The final night, September 6, will be held at Bank of America Stadium, where presumptive nominee Barack Obama is expected to deliver his acceptance speech. On March 16, 2012 President Obama announced that he will retain his running mate Vice-President Joe Biden in the 2012 election campaign.
Protest activity and demonstrations are being anticipated at this convention as well. Over sixty organizations have gathered into a group known as The Coalition to March on Wall St South, and have declared their intention to protest at the convention. The city of Charlotte has passed a variety of new laws which include a prohibition against camping on public property and against possession a number of weapons, fireworks, smoke bombs, pepper spray, mace, masks, scarves, body-armor, helmets, and police scanners.
The conventions will be on us sooner than we anticipate. The polls remain close. A Gallup poll taken today has Obama at 47%, Romney at 45%, while a Rasmussen poll also taken today has Romney at 46% and Obama at 44%.
I'll end this entry by giving you a final opportunity to pick your guess as to who Mitt Romney will select as his running mate. Let's see who guesses right, we should know sometime next month:
Who do you predict that Mitt Romney will select as his running mate for the 2012 Presidential election?