Big Easy aims to host '08 debate

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Super Bowls. Final Fours. College football championships. Mardi Gras. New Orleans has put on megaspectacles often, and always in style.

So two years after being ripped apart by Hurricane Katrina, "the city care forgot" is eager to remind the world that it's back in business by hosting one of the presidential debates next year.

"This is very important to the city of New Orleans," says Anne Milling, founder of Women of the Storm, a New Orleans nonprofit group that's organizing the city's bid to host one of the three scheduled debates. "A presidential debate would ignite our tourist industry and show the country, and the world, that we're open."

The nonpartisan, nonprofit Commission on Presidential Debates is expected to announce next month the winning cities from among the 16 that applied, executive director Janet Brown said.

New Orleans had bid to host the 2008 Democratic National Convention but eventually dropped out, saying it was too costly after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. The convention was awarded to Denver.

But New Orleans is ready to resume its mantle as host city extraordinaire, civic leaders say.

"We're a master at putting on large events, so the city itself can handle something like this," Mrs. Milling says. "It's our bread and butter."

The city already has scheduled the national college football championship game in January at the Louisiana Superdome. But hosting a political event of the magnitude of a nationally televised debate between presidential candidates would give the city an infusion of pride and respect.

"Sporting events are probably our biggest thing, but a debate would be more important," says Lea Sinclair, spokeswoman with the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corp. "The candidates would be talking about the [hurricane] recovery effort, which is what we're still dealing with."

"We've been kicked around so much that it would be something very positive and good and nice," says Edward F. Renwick, a political science professor at Loyola University in New Orleans. "People really want it to come here, and have great expectations."

Several larger cities are trying to get one of the three debates, including Chicago, New York City, Miami, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and St. Louis. Losing cities will be considered for the one debate scheduled between the vice presidential candidates.

"We would he happy with any of the debates, but of course a presidential debate is the big prize," Ms. Sinclair says.

For many, New Orleans is a sentimental favorite. Columns or editorials in Time magazine, the New York Times and the Boston Globe have endorsed the New Orleans bid. Seven of the presidential candidates — five Democrats and two Republicans — have endorsed holding one of the debates in New Orleans.

Mr. Renwick says the city doesn't expect much help from the White House. "If you looked at it the regular way, we would probably have a very good chance at getting a debate," he says. "But the problem is, with the president not being so actively involved in the hurricane [recovery], it's a question of how [the adminstration] may feel about it and whether they would like New Orleans to have a lot of publicity."

New Orleans is not a latecomer as host to big political events. Republicans held their national convention in the city in 1988; it is where President George H.W. Bush gave his invitation to "read my lips: no new taxes."

Women of the Storm, founded in January 2006 to remind Congress of the destruction Katrina brought on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, is coordinating its bid with Loyola, Dillard, Tulane and Xavier universities in New Orleans. The debate would be held at the Morial Convention Center.

"Politics to us is like a sport," Mrs. Milling says. "And in terms of viewers, more people would watch a debate here in New Orleans, I believe."