Party With the Twins

The GOP will be taking their party's show on the road to Minneapolis-St.Paul in 2008:

The Republican National Committee will hold its 2008
presidential nominating convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Republican
officials announced Wednesday afternoon.

The Twin Cities beat out Cleveland, New York City and Tampa-St.
Petersburg in Florida for the right to host the weeklong convention, scheduled
to take place Sept. 1-4, 2008.

Democrats have not yet announced the host city for their presidential
nominating convention, which will be held the week before, Aug. 25-28.

Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York City, and Denver were bidding for
the Democrats' convention. That list has now been narrowed to New York and
Denver.

The first and only time a GOP convention was held in Minneapolis was in
1892, when Republicans re-nominated President Benjamin Harrison for a second
term. He lost that year to Grover Cleveland. The Democrats have never held
their convention in Minneapolis.

Political conventions aren't what they used to be. The presidential candidate will have long been chosen during the earlier stages of the primary campaign, and the Veep spot may be known as well. Other than the roll call, balloon drop and a couple of speeches, there isn't much reason to watch anymore.