DNC Picks Charlotte Over St. Louis

CNN and NBC News are reporting that Charlotte, North Carolina, will host the 2012 Democratic National Convention.  

UPDATE: Brian Wahby of the St. Louis City Democrats has issued a statement congratulating Charlotte.  

The news today from the Democratic National Committee announcing Charlotte as the site of the 2012 Convention was not what we all wanted to hear, but we offer sincere congratulations to Charlotte and look forward to being there in September of 2012.

Despite our disappointment, this nearly year-long effort to win the Convention was a useful exercise for our region. We proved that St. Louis should swing for the fences. Clearly, we have what it takes to do big things.  The significant investments we’ve made in ourselves and our city in the last quarter-century are part of what make us a great region. We have fantastic infrastructure, including light rail, world-class hotels and convention facilities. We have an ever more vibrant downtown, leading-edge institutions including Forest Park, City Museum, and of course the iconic Gateway Arch.  But none of these compare to our greatest asset – our people.  St. Louis’ convention effort attracted the most enthusiastic and vocal support from its people than any of our competing cities.  Thousands of you signed up to volunteer and thousands more joined our Facebook page.

This spirited support was lead by our political and civic leaders from both sides of the river, many of whom whole-heartedly joined the Host Committee.  We would not have come this far without the great support of Mayor Francis Slay, Governor Jay Nixon, Senator Claire McCaskill, County Executive Charlie Dooley, Senator Dick Durbin, our bi-state Congressional Delegation.

Joining our effort were business and labor leaders including David Farr of Emerson and Civic Progress, Mike DeCola of Mississippi Minerals and the Regional Business Council, Bob Soutier of the St Louis Labor Council, Gerry Feldhaus and Jeff Aboussie of the St. Louis Building Trades Council, Nancy Cross of SEIU.  To all of these great St. Louis leaders: Thanks for your leadership and commitment to St. Louis.

Of course there are many people to thank and in the coming days we will attempt to reach out to you, but we also want to recognize here the extraordinary efforts, commitment and leadership of Kitty Ratcliffe and her staff at the Convention and Visitors Commission.  We are truly blessed to have such a dedicated and talented group of people working to sell our region as a premier location for tourists, meetings and conventions.

Again thanks to all of you who helped.  St. Louis was a serious contender throughout this process, and we should be proud of our collective efforts.  You proved that no league is too big for St. Louis.  It is at times like this that I like to read the following quote from one of my favorite Republicans, Teddy Roosevelt:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

 

 

Thanks for allowing me the great honor to have lead this effort. Remember, 2016 is only 5 short years away.