Brooklyn – along with backing of deep-pocketed New Yorkers — should be a “slight favorite” to land the 2016 Democratic National Convention, former party chief Ed Rendell said Sunday.
The 2012 Charlotte convention ran up a $25 million debt, and Democrats believe a 2016 Barclays Center get-together would bring enough green to put them back in black, according to the one-time DNC chairman.
“New York (Brooklyn) would have to be considered the slight favorite,” Rendell told John Catsimatidis’ on his “The Cats Roundtable” radio show.
“The DNC is bound and determined not to have a debt and they believe that the surest of the three cities, the surest city to raise the money necessary is New York.”
Philadelphia, Columbus, Birmingham and Phoenix are all in the running for the Democratic Party bash in two years. But Rendell said the only three serious candidates are Brooklyn, Philadelphia and Columbus.
The City of Brotherly Love’s smaller size – compared to New York – could actually be an advantage in its bidding war against Gotham, the former party boss said.
“I think Philadelphia has the logistics advantage. It’s going to be much easier to have the convention in Philadelphia,” Rendell said.
“I think from a standpoint of how the city gets involved, when we had the Republican convention (in Philadelphia) the whole city was on fire. New York is such a big, sprawling, sophisticated city, that you don’t get the sense of it, the convention sort taking over the town as you do in Philadelphia and as you would in Columbus.”
Still the bottom line is the bottom line, said Rendell: “But I think the money makes New York the favorite, but it’ll be interesting.”