Part of President Obama’s reelection campaign strategy became clear earlier this month with the announcement of Charlotte, N.C. as the site of the Democratic Party’s 2012 convention. St. Louis, Minneapolis and Cleveland were among the other cities vying for hosting duties, but with Charlotte getting the final push, Democrats showed they will be fight for Southern votes in next year’s election.
While the city’s increasing economic stability can easily be marked as a plus, North Carolina is one of the least unionized states in the country, and the party quickly received negative feedback from labor unions after the announcement was made.
More serious criticism, however, may come from the fact that Charlotte has become a hub for the banking industry. The headquarters of Bank of America, for instance, is located in Charlotte and banks all over the country were largely demonized for their role in the nation’s recent financial collapse.
Republicans also quickly fired back at President Obama after the announcement. Robin Hayes, head of the North Carolina Republican Party, said he looked forward to Charlotte being in the spotlight in 2012, but that North Carolinians wouldn’t be fooled again by the “hope and change” promised by Obama in 2008.
The South certainly hasn’t been too welcoming to Democrats in recent elections. Before 2008, both North Carolina and South Carolina had not voted for a Democratic presidential nominee since Jimmy Carter in 1976. However, the door opened up three years ago as Obama eclipsed Republican nominee John McCain to win the state of North Carolina.
While certainly not insignificant, party convention locations haven’t had an overwhelming impact on campaigns in recent years. Democrats chose Denver three years ago and actually won Colorado and the nearby states of Nevada and New Mexico. Republicans chose the St. Paul area for their presidential convention in 2008, yet ended up losing Minnesota. A Republican nominee, however, had not won in Minnesota since Nixon’s landslide victory in the 1972 presidential election.
With the South’s electoral past and with the 2010 midterm elections as an indicator, it should be much more of an uphill battle for the Democrats in 2012, but it seems unlikely that the selection of Charlotte would provide any significant damage to Obama’s reelection bid. This time around, however, the Obama team will be attempting to defend their record instead of running solely on promises for the future.
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