ORLANDO, Fla. – The city of Tampa has raised more than $50 million to host the Republican National Convention. As a result, downtown Tampa was cordoned off by a chunk of its downtown, closed major traffic arteries and turned over much of downtown into a Homeland Security camp.
As far as Orlando hosting a political convention, Orlando Mayor Buddy said although the city could handle it logistically, it's not in the cards.
"We have 120,000 hotel rooms, the second largest convention center, state of the art arena we have all the facilities and assets you would need to host a convention," Dyer said.
Orlando and Orange County officials said they would have had to block three months of events here at the convention center to allow for time to set up and tear down from a political convention.
"We've looked at that a couple different times and visit Orlando and other tourism interests it just hasn't made sense for Orlando, there's so many restrictions," said Dyer.
Officials said they would have had to book tens of thousands of hotel rooms two years in advance of a political convention an din an area that thrives on tourism, it didn't seem plausible.
The threat of inclement weather can also offset all planning for a convention, just as Isaac led to one night of the RNC being canceled.