Republicans have narrowed down the list of possible sites for the 2016 Republican National Convention to two cities in two very different states:
WASHINGTON — The 2016 Republican National Convention will be held in Cleveland or Dallas, the party announced Wednesday.
The two cities made it to the final round of consideration after Denver and Kansas City, Mo., were ruled out, the Republican National Committee said.
“The R.N.C. is excited about the prospect of hosting our convention in either of these great cities,” Enid Mickelsen, the chairwoman of the party’s site selection committee, said in a written statement.
The statement did not say when the committee would make its final selection. Dallas last played host to the Republicans in 1984, when President Ronald Reagan was nominated for re-election. The last Republican convention in Cleveland was in 1936, when the nominee, Alfred Landon, went on to defeat by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Reagan, of course, went on to win re-election by 525 Electoral Votes to 13 votes for his opponent. Landon lost to Roosevelt by a margin of 523 Electoral Votes to 8 votes. That notwithstanding, I suspect that Cleveland may have the advantage here because of the fact that Ohio is a swing state that the GOP would absolutely need to win in order to win the election. Starting off the General Election campaign in the Buckeye State would be a good way to try to make that effort.
