Charlotte

Bill Clinton To Nominate Barack Obama For Second Term As President, While George W. Bush Will Avoid Republican Convention!

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President Barack Obama will be formally nominated for reelection at the Charlotte, North Carolina Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, September 5th, by former President Bill Clinton, once his most bitter rival during the battle for the Democratic Presidential nomination conducted by Senator Hillary Clinton.

But Barack Obama and Hillary and Bill Clinton have become fast friends, and Hillary Clinton has been one of the greatest Secretaries of State in American history, a master stroke by Obama to nominate the New York Senator, as Abraham Lincoln chose his most bitter rival, Senator William Seward of New York, to be his Secretary of State, who went on to conduct brilliant foreign policy, keeping Great Britain and France neutral in the Civil War, rather than recognizing the Confederacy!

At the same time, former President George W. Bush is not even attending the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, the last week of August. And as of now, neither former Vice President Dick Cheney nor former GOP Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin are planning to attend either! But even if either one does, they will certainly NOT play a major role in the convention as Bill Clinton will at the Democratic National Convention!

North Carolina’s Public Image Harmed By Vote Banning Gay Marriage In State Constitution

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North Carolina was part of the Confederate South during the Civil War.

North Carolina was part of the segregated South for a century, but the lunch counter sit ins at Greensboro in 1960 were one of the first events to draw attention to the issue of civil rights for African Americans in the South.

North Carolina started to prosper, passing its neighbor, South Carolina, in social and economic progress in recent decades, and in population as well, and gained a good reputation as a progressive state.

North Carolina has a black mayor of Charlotte, which will be the host for the Democratic National Convention this summer, and that city is the center of major banking and finance.

North Carolina is the center of high technology and excellent universities, with Durham and Duke University, Raleigh and University of North Carolina, and Chapel Hill with North Carolina State University.

Areas including Asheville, Charlotte, Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill were strongly against the Amendment One, but the religious right, led by Billy Graham and Franklin Graham won out over the appeals of the educated ,and even of former President Bill Clinton.

So North Carolina has suffered, and will suffer in public image, and it will take a long time before North Carolina can regain the stature it had worked so hard to achieve in the past 30 years.

And to top it off, unmarried heterosexual couples will no longer be protected in their rights, either, whether civil unions or domestic partnerships. This is a heavy price to pay for ignorance, prejudice, and narrow mindedness, and provoked by organized religion, which should unite citizens, not divide them!

The Choice Of Charlotte, North Carolina As Host Of The 2012 Democratic National Convention

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The announcement this week that the Democratic National Convention of 2012 will be held in Charlotte, North Carolina, may have surprised some observers, including this blogger, who really thought that St. Louis, Missouri would be chosen from among others including Columbus, Ohio, and Minneapolis, Minnesota.

After having been correct on the choice of Tampa, Florida by the Republican Party for its 2012 convention, the author was somewhat disappointed that his prediction failed to come to fruition!

It is clear that President Barack Obama made the final choice, and it shows that he intends to make a fight to keep the Southern states that he won in 2008–North Carolina, Virginia and Florida, none of which will be easy to accomplish.

In the mind of the author, keeping the Midwest–Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota–will be more urgent, as the “heartland” of the nation seems the even more significant battleground!

While Obama did not win Missouri in 2008, John McCain only won by a few thousand votes, and that was only the second time since 1900 (the other time being 1956) that the loser of Missouri won the White House. So it is crucial that Missouri be won by Obama if he is to win a second term, the reasoning that made the author think he would choose St. Louis.

However, Charlotte is part of the emerging modern South, and North Carolina, along with Virginia and Florida, will also be crucial in the 2012 election campaign.

Hopefully, the President’s decision to choose the South over the Midwest for the national convention will play out in a resulting win for him in 2012!

The Battle Over The Democratic National Convention Site For 2012

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Very soon, there will be an announcement as to where the Democratic National Convention will be held in September 2012.

The author has written about this earlier, and correctly predicted that the Republican National Convention would be held in late August 2012 in Tampa, Florida.

As stated earlier, the author predicts the convention will be held in St. Louis, Missouri, winning over the cities of Minneapolis, Minnesota; Cleveland, Ohio; and Charlotte, North Carolina.

St. Louis has hosted the Democratic National Convention before, with Woodrow Wilson nominated for his second term in that Mississippi River city in 1916.

St. Louis has the Gateway Arch, an iconic symbol of the nation, and is the major city in a state that is a very clear predictor of the presidential election results, as since 1900, only twice–1956 and 2008–did the Presidential winner lose Missouri. And in both losing cases, Adlai Stevenson and John McCain just barely defeated Dwight D. Eisenhower and Barack Obama.

Missouri will be difficult to win for the Democrats, but it is a crucial state, and holding the convention there would be a boost to the chances of winning the state.

However, having said that, the records show that the Presidential nominee of the Democratic Party has won the state in which the national convention was held a total of 23 times, and lost it 22 times!

So there is obviously no guarantee of what will happen in the Presidential election, whether the convention is held in Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, or Minnesota. All three of the other states were won by the Democrats in 2008, but all three, along with Missouri, are in play for 2012 at this stage of the campaign, nearly two years out.

Still, it seems to the author that Missouri and St. Louis are the most likely choice, and it will be interesting to see if he is correct on the Democratic convention location, as he was on the Republican convention location. 🙂

Four Finalists For Democratic National Convention In September 2012!

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The Democratic National Chairman, former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, has just announced the four finalists to host the Democratic National Convention, beginning September 3, 2012!

They are: Charlotte, North Carolina; Cleveland, Ohio; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and St. Louis, Missouri!

Notice that three of the four are in the battleground Mid West, and North Carolina is another battleground!

But also note that North Carolina, Ohio and Minnesota all ultimately went to Barack Obama in 2008, although all three will remain tough races for the 2012 Presidential election!

Missouri went to John McCain by just a few thousand votes, but in so doing, it was only the second time since 1900 that the “Show Me” state failed to go to the winner of the Presidency!

The only other time was 1956, when Adlai Stevenson somehow won the state over President Dwight D. Eisenhower, running for reelection!

It seems to the author that, therefore, the best case can be made for St. Louis, the home of the Gateway Arch, and a city sitting on the Mississippi River, marking the symbolic center of the country!

It is a state that Obama needs to win, and it obviously is a bellwether state more than any other!

Just as Tampa, Florida, made the most sense for the Republican Party for their 2012 convention–a state which went to the other party but is essential for victory–so does St. Louis, Missouri make the most sense for the Democratic Party!

The author months ago made a prediction that Tampa would be the GOP choice, so he is going out on a limb and predicting that St. Louis will be the Democratic selection!

Now let’s just wait and see if I can bat one thousand on selections of national conventions! 🙂