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Blog: N.Y. desire for DNC ebbing

Denver focuses on boosting own bid

Alan Gathright, Rocky Mountain News

Published December 26, 2006 at midnight

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Advocates for bringing the 2008 Democratic National Convention to Denver were heartened Monday by persistent news reports that rival New York's power brokers are souring on that city's bid.

But Denver boosters made it clear they're keeping their eye on the prize: working nonstop to heal an 11th-hour union rift that could kill the city's bid before Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean picks the convention winner next week.

"Sure, we should be encouraged by it," Denver 2008 Host Committee Executive Director Debbie Willhite said of the latest "tea-leaf- reading story" out of New York City. "But what we should really be encouraged by is all the strides that Denver has made to put this city into the competition.

"What I don't want people in Denver to think when we get this convention is we got it because New York didn't want it. There has been enormous hard work put together to keep this bid moving forward.

"It will not be a default victory."

Still, it didn't dampen Denver's hopes when a New York Daily News political blog reported Christmas Day that the Empire State's biggest political players and money-raisers were losing interest in ponying up the estimated $90 million needed to put on the presidential nominating bash.

Headlined "City may break with convention," the story cited anonymous sources saying city leaders were in "a coy standoff" with Dean and all but ready to give the party chairman a Bronx cheer.

Dean, the Daily News reported, had made it clear he preferred Denver - "a symbol of Democrats' hopes in the West and Dean's drive to compete in red states" - or Minneapolis, which exited the running when the Republicans chose it for their 2008 convention.

Now a week after New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the convention bid has fallen behind other fundraising priorities, none of the other likely candidates to lead the bid - New York Sens. Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton, and Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer - "has rushed to take the helm," Daily News political reporter Ben Smith wrote.

New York City's big Democratic fundraisers "don't like Dean, and they don't like his staff," an anonymous source involved with New York's bid told Smith.

Willhite pondered another possibility: that New York, which was lobbying hard just weeks ago to crush its smaller rival, could be exploring a graceful exit.

"They probably didn't expect this to be such a fight," she said.

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