Patrick Murphy: Democratic National Convention should pick Miami to highlight its winning message

[brooklynite]

Miami Herald

The closely divided presidential election of 2000 — in which George W. Bush defeated Al Gore by the slimmest of margins in Florida —

forever implanted the divide between red states and blue states in our political consciousness. Since that election, Florida has gone twice for Democratic presidential candidates (Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012) and twice for Republicans (George W. Bush ‘04 and Donald Trump in 2016), pointing to the fact that we are indeed the nation’s premier swing state — even if Democrats have come up on the wrong side of the ledger more often than not in other close contests.

That’s why I think it would be ideal for the Democratic National Committee to choose Miami as the site of its 2020 convention a decision likely made this week. We need to show the country that our party has the energy, activism and organization to deliver our 29 electoral votes in this most critical of elections.

As the country’s third-largest state by population, Florida is the crown jewel in the Electoral College among swing states. Simply put, Trump will not be re-elected if he loses here. In fact, no Republican presidential candidate since Calvin Coolidge has won without winning Florida, and that was almost 100 years ago.

[hlthe2b]

1. I like Miami as a pick (except for that pesky hurricane risk that time of year)

still, I'd like to counter some of this BS Trump is trying to pull with the whole Venezuela situation among voters who care.

[LonePirate]

2. I prefer Miami over Milwaukee simply because we need to shore up the city after Repub gains in 2018.

Nelson and Gillum would likely have won in 2018 were not for Republican gains in the Miami metro area. A strong showing in Miami in 2020 could return Florida back to the blue column.