A really clever plan

Richard Johnson in the NY Post reports that the press is going to be a tad grumpy at the Democrat convention in '04:

THE Democrats brought 500 journalists into Boston to check out the media facilities for the party's July presidential convention - but there weren't any. There's barely room in the Fleet Center for the delegates. Dem honchos said the press might have to use a parking lot, giant tents, office buildings or a mix of them all. No one is sure which yet because money is a problem, as the visiting journos learned from a front-page story in yesterday's Boston Herald. (The situation is the opposite in New York, which is doing just fine raising the bucks to host the Republicans next summer.) What's more, insiders say Boston is short of hotel rooms.

That's why Terry McAuliffe gets the big bucks I guess.

Speaking of which:

Instead of showing the nonexistent facilities, the Dems yesterday served up Bush-bashing speeches, endured in stony silence by the press. Boston convention CEO Rod O'Connor even took a swipe at New York, saying: "All indications are that the Republicans have gone to New York to exploit a terrible moment in our history." Of course the Dems also contemplated coming here - and probably should have.

It's good to see that the Donks hire the "challenged". Rod O'Connor is hauling down $190,000 for this gig and the runner up for the job, Alice Huffman, is getting $130,000 for a "part-time post chairing the convention committee."

In the past, the convention committee chairman has been an unpaid post, Democratic sources said. But Huffman's job comes with a $40,000-a-year scheduler, an $80,000 travel and expense budget - and a $50,000 contingency fund.
...
A year ago, Huffman was highly critical of Boston's convention bid, saying she worried about the city's past racial tensions. Since landing her chairmanship, Huffman has had nothing but praise for Boston and O'Connor.

Indeed.