2008 Republican National Convention

Template:Future election in the United States The 2008 Republican National Convention will take place at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota from September 1 until September 4, 2008. The first day of the Republican convention will be Labor Day, the last day of the popular Minnesota State Fair. (The RNC National Convention will be held four days after the start of the Democratic National Convention which will be held in Denver, Colorado.)

The attending delegates at the convention will choose and nominate the Republican Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates for the 2008 Presidential election. It is still too early to know who the candidates will be or who will attend the convention.

The four-day GOP convention will be held at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., home of the National Hockey League's Minnesota Wild.

Hosting City Selection

Four cities made bids to the Republican National Committee for proposals to host the 2008 Convention. Those cities were Cleveland, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York City, and Tampa-St. Petersburg. The RNC Selection Committee made its recommendation for Minneapolis-St. Paul and on September 27, 2006, the RNC made its decision public that the 2008 National Convention would be held in Minneapolis - St. Paul, Minnesota. The RNC made their decision earlier than originally scheduled due to the fact the the Democratic National Committee also had Minneapolis - St. Paul as a finalist among bidding cities. (After the RNC's selection the DNC removed Minneapolis - St. Paul from consideration which left only two cities to choose from, New York City and Denver, Colorado.)

Republican Notes Regarding Minneapolis-St. Paul and the State of Minnesota

• The last RNC National Convention that was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota was in 1892 in the Industrial Exposition Building where President Benjamin Harrison was nominated for Re-Election and his new running mate Whitelaw Reid for Vice President. They were defeated that November by Democrat Grover Cleveland who had also been President before Harrison.

• The state of Minnesota has not had a majority vote for a Republican in a presidential election since 1972, even in 1984 when all 49 other states voted for Ronald Reagan's second term. The state that year went to Minnesotan Walter Mondale by a mere 3,761 votes.

2008 Presidential Election

Main article: United States presidential election, 2008

The 2008 Presidential election will take place on November 4, 2008 and will elect the next President of the United States. Primaries, political conventions, and other major campaigning events will begin several months before Election Day.

Assuming that there are no major changes to the U.S. Constitution, and that Vice-President Dick Cheney follows his statements that he will not seek the Presidency, the 2008 election will be the first election in 80 years in which neither the sitting President nor Vice President will seek his party's nomination.

External links

• Republican National Committee official website
• StarTribune.com: Antiwar activists plan to march on '08 GOP convention in St. Paul

Preceded by 2004 New York

Republican National Conventions

Succeeded by 2012 (not yet decided)