OT: Republicans Choose New York
for '04 National Convention
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
The Republican National Committee tentatively designated New York City today as the site of the party's 2004 political convention, selecting one of the most heavily Democratic cities in the nation as the place to renominate President Bush next summer.
It would be the first time in the history of New York that the city played host to a Republican convention. Officials said the main venue would be Madison Square Garden, where the Democrats nominated Bill Clinton and Al Gore in 1992.
Republican officials said they chose New York over two competing cities — Tampa and New Orleans — because of what they described as the enormous political and emotional symbolism that has become attached to the city since the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
New York officials, led by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Governor George E. Pataki, both Republicans, had lobbied urgently for the selection, arguing that it would prove a psychic and financial lift to a city during difficult times.
The recommendation was made unanimously today by the Republican site selection committee in a telephone conference call. It is expected to be ratified by the Republican National Committee at its annual meeting in Washington later this month.
Mr. Bloomberg was called away from a news conference at Central Park to be told the news. "New York is exactly the right place for the president and for the Republican Party," Mayor Bloomberg said, calling the convention a "tremendous boost for the city."
Governor Pataki said, "The Republican National Committee's selection of New York City to host the Republican National Convention in 2004 is yet another sign of the confidence people have in New York and sends a message to America and the world that New York is back."
The Democratic National Committee had also considered New York for its convention, but settled on Boston.
The decision today was the product of an unusual set of circumstances that led to what even Republicans described as the highly unlikely scenario of Republicans gathering in New York to nominate a candidate for president.
The first consideration was the attack on the World Trade Center. But the decision also comes as the Republican Party tries to expand its geographic, ethnic and political appeal — a task that Republicans say has become more urgent in the wake of the ouster of Trent Lott as Senate Republican leader over remarks that many Republicans described as racially insensitive.
Finally, New York has both a Republican governor and a Republican mayor, which is both a symbolic and a logistical help for convention planners, not to mention the nation's best known ex-mayor, Rudolph W. Giuliani, who would be expected to at least appear on the convention's stage.
New York has had five national political party conventions in its history, all Democratic, with the most recent in 1992.
City and state officials have offered up not just Madison Square Garden as the main site, with thousands of hotel rooms nearby, but also the Farley Post Office building, across the street, as a media center, linked by bridges.
