The city of Detroit begins kissing up to the Democratic party today, hoping to land the 2004 Democratic Convention. You have to be a severe case of a political junkie to care much about this, and if you're on the Detroit committee, you have to be a little delusional to think that having the convention will be all that much of an economic boost to the city. It hardly ever is, and with conventions' gradual plunge in significance accelerated by a front-loaded '04 primary schedule, the next round of conventions will be a joke (the Dems are talking about scheduling for September, while their nominee will be settled in February or March). Still, a hosting convention would mean a lot, symbolically (i.e. rebirth), to Detroit or New York, more so than fellow candidates Boston and Miami.

http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2004/convs/dsiteselect.html
http://www.ci.detroit.mi.us/ccsd/Releases/pr052322.htm