Denver’s Hotels Welcome America’s Democrats
(Cross-Posted to DemNotes at www.DemNotes.com)
As I indicated at the end of my post earlier today, the DNCC has announced the housing assignments for the Democratic National Convention in Denver next August.
First, some background: Somewhere between 17,000 and 19,000 rooms across Denver have been blocked off by hotels in the metro area for the Convention. Of these, around 6,000 to 7,000 are set aside for state delegations. The ones that are set aside for delegations are all in one of three areas: Downtown, Tech Center, and Stapleton. This summer, nearly every state sent a representative to Denver to tour hotels in those three areas and make their preferences known to the DNCC. Since September, the DNCC has been working on a complicated puzzle, trying to take into account the preferences of the delegations (some wanted close hotels, some wanted cheaper hotels, some wanted hotels with a lot of amenities, and some were limited to the largest hotels, etc.) and the available hotels.
Today, the DNCC announced the assignments.
For starters, the Colorado Delegation will be staying in a pretty good downtown spot: the Grand Hyatt. (Note that this is not the newer Hyatt Regency, which will be the DNC’s Headquarters Hotel; no delegation is staying there). Here’s an interesting point: normally, we share our hotel with one or two other delegations. In 2004, we shared the Wyndham in Boston with the Georgia delegation. However, according to the press release from the DNCC, no other delegation is staying at the Grand Hyatt. The full press release is available at:
http://www.demconvention.com/a/2007/11/delegation_hote.html
Some other notes of interest:
– For the home states of our “front-runners” for the nomination, the New York delegation is staying at the Adams Mark; the Illinois delegation is at the Marriott City Center; the North Carolina delegation is at the Doubletree Denver Tech Center; and the New Mexico delegation will be at the Crowne Plaza, Downtown.
– California is also at the Adam’s Mark; Texas is at the Radisson Denver Southeast.
– Governor Dean’s Vermont delegation is at the Magnolia Hotel.
– Where will you see the most delegations? The Stapleton Doubletree and the Four Points by Sheraton, Southeast both have four delegations each staying at their properties. Alabama, Georgia, North Dakota and South Dakota are staying at the Stapleton Doubletree; Alaska, Minnesota, Puerto Rico and Rhode Island are at the Four Points Southeast.
– Our neighbors besides New Mexico? Wyoming is the Hyatt Place at the Denver Tech Center; Utah (who got the first priority during the lottery) is at the Warwick; Arizona is at the Hyatt Regency in the Tech Center; Oklahoma is at the Embassy Suites Southeast; Kansas is at the Doubletree Tech Center; and Nebraska is also at the Embassy Suites Southeast.
– Finally, if you want to see some of the Party’s rising stars, you should hang out near the Wyndham at the Tech Center or the Downtown Courtyard by Marriott around breakfast time. The New Hampshire delegation is staying at the Wyndham; the Iowa delegation has the Downtown Courtyard. Aspiring presidential hopefuls beyond 2008 often work to stop by each of those two delegations to speak to their delegation breakfast meetings.
Whew! With every passing day, this dream of holding the National Convention in Denver becomes more and more real, doesn’t it?