Poorly attended news conferences, a meager global social media footprint and lack of much obvious enthusiasm on the ground; Beijing looks like an improbable front-runner to win the right to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. With Oslo dropping out of the race last year, citing worries over costs and the lack of popular support, Beijing, which hosted the 2008 Summer Games to wide acclaim, is left facing the Kazakh city of Almaty.
Residents of any city where local politicians want to host an Olympics, Winter or Summer, should always insist on a vote. Somehow I suspect that in Beijing and Almaty they won’t be given the chance.
In Boston, however (the Boston Globe reports):
Governor Charlie Baker on Tuesday raised the prospect of scheduling a statewide referendum on Boston’s Olympics proposal in early 2016, rather than during the November presidential election, a calendar shift that could dramatically reshape the politics of the vote by targeting a smaller electorate.
Plucking the question out of the maelstrom of a presidential campaign could prevent the already emotional issue from exploding into a national debate in the general election. But an earlier vote would also shorten the window for pro-Olympics forces to sway voters on an issue that has repeatedly tested as unpopular in public opinion polls.
And should the federal government lend any financial support to a Boston Olympics?
Nope.
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