The Campaign Spot, May 13:

Charlotte is going to use its performance hosting this convention to help bolster its bid to host another big convention, a perhaps ironic subsequent event: the Democratic National Convention in 2012. Maybe Wayne LaPierre will leave a note at the convention center podium for President Obama.

The news today:

Where will President Obama formally open his re-election bid by accepting the Democratic nomination for a second term? Charlotte, N.C.? Cleveland? Minneapolis? St. Louis? Those are the four cities named by the Democratic National Committee as finalists for the party’s national convention in 2012. A decision will be made by Democratic leaders — and blessed by the White House — later this year. . . . Charlotte is seen as an early favorite in the eyes of many party officials, with Democrats eager to reprise the outcome of 2008 by holding onto North Carolina in the presidential election.

Recent history has given us little evidence that the convention-city selection increases a party’s chances of winning the state. The Democrats have held theirs in Denver (Obama won Colorado), Boston (Kerry won Massachusetts), Los Angeles (Gore won California), Chicago (Clinton won Illinois), and New York City (Clinton won New York). Of course, most of those are heavily Democratic states that they probably would have carried easily even without the convention in those states.

Meanwhile, the GOP held theirs in St. Paul (McCain lost Minnesota), New York City (Bush lost New York), Philadelphia (Bush lost Pennsylvania), San Diego (Dole lost California), and Houston (Bush won Texas). Of course, most of those are fairly-to-heavily Democratic states that Republicans probably would have lost even if they had held a dozen conventions in those states.

Much more important to a convention than electoral votes are logistics and optics. Can the city — particularly its infrastructure and transportation system — handle tens of thousands of visitors at once? And does the selection of the city underline a particular theme or idea of the campaign, as New York City did for Bush’s reelection campaign in 2004?