Those wondering about Tampa’s in-state competition for the 2004 GOP Convention can stop speculating. Miami is only serious about the Democrats, and Orlando doesn’t seem serious at all. Orlando was underrepresented with mainly staff people in a recent pitch to the Republican National Committee.
With good reason.
Orlando’s bridled enthusiasm is a function of its tourist-mecca status. The issue is that attendees of a national political convention actually spend a lot of time at the convention — as well as in break-out rooms, lobbies, restaurants, bars and private parties. This is not the Disney World, Universal crowd. It’s not as if the hotel rooms wouldn’t be filled otherwise.