Convention Mayhem

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Barack Obama has discovered that there is a downside to having the largest political grassroots movement in American history. By successfully tapping so many donors, there were scant few donations left over for the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

The DNC had merely $4 million on hand at the end of May. Compare this to the $53.5 million the Republican National Committee had in its coffers.

The DNC is responsible for funding the Democratic National Convention at Pepsi Center in Denver on August 25th through August 28th. Today, the New York Times reported that the DNC cash shortage has taken its toll on convention preparations. From that article:

"...problems range from the serious — upwardly spiraling costs on key contracts still being negotiated — to the mundane, like the reluctance of local caterers to participate because of stringent rules on what delegates will be eating, down to the color of the food. At last count, plans to renovate the inside of the Pepsi Center for the Democrats are $6 million over budget, which may force convention planners to scale back on their original design or increase their fund-raising goals."

The Obama camp has been critical of the process thus far:

"Only in the last month has the Obama campaign been able to take over management of the convention planning with the candidate claiming the nomination, and his aides are increasingly frustrated, as the event nears, at organizers who they believe spent too freely, planned too slowly and underestimated actual costs."

With less than two months to go, convention organizers will have to get cracking.

UPDATE:

DNC Chairman Howard Dean and Convention CEO Leah Daughtry have posted a response to the Times story which corrects many of the article's original inaccuracies. Read the statement here.

On a related note, Obama is now considering giving his acceptance speech at Invesco Field, home of the Denver Broncos. The stadium can hold up to 76,000 cheering Obamaniacs, while Denver's Pepsi Center has a maximum capacity of about 19,000.

The date of Obama's acceptance speech will correspond with the 45th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. This will be big. And whatever the outcome of the general election, I suspect the historical significance of that speech, given on that day, will reverberate for generations.

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Comments

[CJ]

Chairman Howard Dean and Convention CEO Leah Daughtry have responded to this story. It’s online at http://www.demconvention.com/nytimes-statement.

It clarifies and corrects many of the inaccuracies reported this morning by the New York Times.

[Tim]

Thanks for the update CJ! I saw that a short while ago. I'll post an addendum..

[Giovanni]

Oh wow! Thats funny how the NYT, the democrats dedicated PR venue published something like that!