July 09, 2007 04:50 PM UTC

GOP '08 Convention Confirmed in Broomfield

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

As the Boulder Daily Camera reported Saturday:

“We fully intend to have our 2008 state Republican convention at the Broomfield Event Center,” said party Chairman Dick Wadhams. “It’s just a matter of locking in the right date with them.”

The news comes three weeks after Broomfield Democrats learned they lost a bid to host their state convention to Colorado Springs.

The GOP rally, expected to draw about 3,000 delegates to the city, will take place over a weekend in May or early June, Wadhams said. While here, the party expects to nominate former U.S. Rep. Bob Schaffer for outgoing Sen. Wayne Allard’s seat and choose delegates to attend the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., in September 2008.

Broomfield restaurants, shopping, hotels, a nearby airport and the Broomfield Event Center — which can accommodate speakers, individual forums and meetings, and the technology needed to keep politicians connected — were among the considerations that made Broomfield a good choice for the event, but there were some political perks as well, Wadhams said.

“It’s also in the shadow of Boulder liberal Mark Udall’s hometown,” he said of Schaffer’s potential opponent in the Senate race. “That adds some interesting political angles, as well.”