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Host status snares state delegation some choice lodgings
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Republican party officials have resolved one of the fiercest competitions in the run-up to their national convention in St. Paul, one that has nothing to do with who the nominee will be or what positions the party's platform will take.
No, this competition has to do with where members of the various state delegations will lay their heads every night.
For the first time in years, Minnesota's Republican delegates landed themselves a choice convention hotel -- St. Paul's Hilton Garden Inn, just a short walk from the Xcel Energy Center.
In recent years, Minnesota delegates (from both parties) have groused about being sent to faraway or shabby lodgings. The usual explanation was that the state was taken for granted by Democrats and written off as hopeless by Republicans.
But this year Minnesota Republicans are getting some respect, as befitting their status as the host for the convention to be held Sept. 1-4.
Convention organizers also announced Monday how 56 state and territorial delegations will be assigned to 35 hotels across the metro area. The clear winners: Arizona and Nevada, ensconced at the St. Paul Hotel.
(No official word whether McCain will stay there with his fellow Arizonans, said Maria Cino, president and CEO of the convention.)
Apparent losers: South Dakota, Puerto Rico and Connecticut, in hotels more than 20 miles from Xcel, in Maple Grove.
"It's like a jigsaw puzzle with literally thousands of pieces," Cino said.
In all, the convention has reserved 16,000 rooms in 101 hotels and motels, none more than about 40 minutes from the convention site, she said.
Fierce competition still to come, now that the hotels are assigned: Seat assignments on the convention floor itself.
BOB VON STERNBERG
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