The first two sentences of UPoR’s story on the decision not to bid sum the situation up nicely:
A month before bids are due, the city of Charlotte announced Friday it will not try to land the 2016 Republican National Convention.
The city was considered a successful host of the 2012 Democratic National Convention, which was estimated to generate an economic impact of roughly $164 million for the region.
There are only two ways to interpret this:
1. Given the simply incredibly massive economic impact, the decision amounts to a complete and utter act of surrender by Mayor Patrick Cannon and Gov. Pat McCrory. Where these gentlemen true leaders, they would have found a way for the city and state to put a credible bid together.
2. In the alternative, not bidding is no big deal because those simply incredibly massive economic impact numbers are basically just made up, and the real-world impact of holding a major political convention is rather minimal, though the usual power brokers get their egos stroked.
I know which way I lean on this…
