Minneapolis: Did dome deflate bid?

City boosters made the Metrodome part of their original bid for the 2012 Democratic National Convention.

Plans changed when the venue's dome collapsed in December.

Now, city officials now are emphasizing other sites that could host the event, including the Target Center.

Mayor R.T. Rybak told television station KSTP that Minneapolis' bid is is still very much alive.

According to the story, "Although some national publications speculate St. Louis and Charlotte are the front runners, Rybak calls them the 'front talkers.'"

Cleveland is the fourth city in the running.




- Doug Miller

'Waiting is the hardest part'

And so ... we wait.

While most of the political class is waiting for President Obama's State of the Union speech tonight, a lot of people in St. Louis, Charlotte and a pair of other cities are waiting for something else: the announcement of the site for the 2012 Democratic National Convention.

On Sunday Politico had the latest story on the wait, which now seems likely to drag into next week.

"And for the cities in convention contention," it said, "there’s a lot of civic pride caught up in this very public drama. They’re aching for the validation that would come, first, from winning the competition, and second from the chance to showcase their city to the national political and media classes."

DNC announcement in early February?

Charlotte officials may have to wait until early February to learn if the Queen City will host the 2012 Democratic National Convention, according to a Thursday report on POLITICO.

Meanwhile, Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx says he, too, has not received any new indications from the White House about whether the city will get the convention nod. Earlier this week, Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill said she was worried her state could miss out on the convention, in part, because she hadn't received any insight from the White House.

One Democratic party source said a decision could come as soon as the first few days of the month, wrote POLITICO's David Catanese. Read his piece by clicking here .

Charlotte is among four cities in the hunt for the convention, and is widely believed to be a front-runner along with St. Louis.

A decision on the convention site has been looming for weeks and delayed this month, in part, because in the wake of in the aftermath of the Tucson, Ariz. shootings. The early February timing could ensure the announcement doesn't compete with next week's State of the Union address, the Democratic source told POLITICO.

"But one Democratic operative stressed that making a decision soon is "in the interest of everybody involved" for logistical and fundraising purposes," Catanese writes. - APRIL BETHEA

St. Louis sells itself as 'Comeback Kid'

It's the final countdown to this month's expected announcement of a site for the 2012 Democratic National Convention. The four finalists -- Charlotte, Cleveland, Minneapolis and St. Louis -- are apparently still looking for an edge.

This week the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ran this story that bills its city as the Comeback Kid, a narrative that some Democrats hope mirrors that of President Obama.

Meanwhile, Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers, co-chair of Charlotte's bid, told the Observer he expects an announcement within 10 days.