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One last pitch for GOP's event
By DAVID KARP and BILL ADAIR View related 10 News video: TAMPA -- Mayor Dick Greco and key Florida Republicans will visit the White House this morning to try to persuade President Bush's top political advisers to hold the GOP's 2004 convention in Tampa.
The group is scheduled to meet with Ken Mehlman, the White House political director. Karl Rove, President Bush's top political adviser, will be out of town but may participate by phone. Rove and Mehlman have tremendous influence in the Bush administration and are expected to play a major role in deciding which city gets the convention. New York and Tampa are believed to be the top contenders, with New Orleans trailing. Tampa supporters asked for today's meeting to convince top party strategists that state and local officials can raise $50-million as promised and ensure a smooth event. Another possible point of discussion is the supply of hotel rooms, which would be bolstered by cruise ships anchored near downtown Tampa. "My goal for the meeting is that we put to bed any concerns about Tampa's ability to provide the facilities or Florida's ability to provide the money," said U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Bartow, who will attend the meeting. Putnam said it appeared that GOP officials were satisfied that Tampa could meet the minimum needs for hotel rooms. "The perceived money issue remains our Achilles' heel," he said. "If we can convince Karl Rove and Ken Mehlman (that money and hotel issues have been resolved), then the word will trickle down," Putnam said. Putnam said that "getting an audience with Mehlman and potentially Rove is a very good sign that we are very much in the hunt." The Republicans are expected to pick a site for the 2004 national convention this month. Others scheduled to attend today's meeting include Jack Oliver, the deputy chairman of the Republican National Committee who served as national finance director of George W. Bush's 2000 presidential campaign, and several GOP staffers. Ellen Williams, who chairs the party's site selection committee, will participate by phone. At a private hangar at Tampa International Airport on Monday, local leaders were planning how best to present their case as they boarded a twin-engine Cessna 421. "I am going to tell them, "We want it, and we want it badly,' " said Greco, a Democrat who crossed party sides to campaign for Bush and his brother, Gov. Jeb Bush. Greco was joined by Florida Republican Party finance chairman Al Austin, state party chairman Al Cardenas, former state party finance chairman Dick Beard, and Paul Catoe, president of the Tampa Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau. They described the session as a chance to convince national Republican leaders that they could launch Bush's re-election effort in Tampa, which has never hosted a national political convention. New Orleans hosted the GOP convention in 1988; New York has hosted the Democratic convention in 1992, 1980 and 1976. Beard said he wanted to find out what, if anything, he could do to improve Tampa's chances. He acknowledged one weakness in Tampa's proposal was banking on $10-million from the Legislature. The Legislature won't meet until March, after the RNC selects a convention city. "We can't get the approval until after the decision is made," Beard said. Even if the Legislature doesn't help, Beard said, local Republicans can raise the money. Already, he said, local leaders have oral commitments for $3.5-million. That's a million more since last week, when Beard said the group had oral promises for $2.5-million. The White House will need to feel confident that the host committee can raise the money. At the 2000 convention in Philadelphia, local Republicans fell short of fundraising goals weeks before the convention. White House aides will be convinced by solid plans, not by lobbying, said Cardenas, who pledged the state party's full support. "No one at the White House or the RNC are going to be influenced by a lot of lobbying," Cardenas said. "The people who are making these decisions are very sophisticated."
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