Dems to Head to GF in ’08

By Susanne Nadeau, Grand Forks Herald, N.D.

Apr. 14–North Dakota Democrats are planning to bring their party’s convention back to Grand Forks for the first time in 26 years.

North Dakota Rep. Earl Pomeroy, along with State Democratic-NPL Chairman David Strauss, announced Friday that Grand Forks has been chosen as the site for the 2008 State Democratic-NPL convention.

Grand Forks hasn’t hosted a North Dakota Democratic-NPL convention since 1982, officials said. But, the Alerus Center was the site for the 2002 North Dakota Republican-GOP party convention, according to the party’s executive director, Jason Stverak.

"We had close to 1,000 people and Grand Forks was great to us," Stverak said.

The Democratic convention will bring about 800 delegates to Grand Forks from April 4-6, 2008, and is expected to have about a $200,000 economic impact, according to Pomeroy.

The convention will be in the Alerus Center and Canad Inns will be the host hotel, Pomeroy said.

The convention has rotated between Bismarck and Fargo in past years. In 1982, it was held at the civic auditorium in downtown Grand Forks, but officials said they "needed more space" to accommodate the party.

There was not an appropriate venue for the convention in Grand Forks until now, according to Strauss.

The combination of the Alerus Center and the hotel is one of the reasons the party chose Grand Forks as its host for the ’08 convention, officials said.

"We’re very much looking forward to coming back to Grand Forks in 2008," Pomeroy said.

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Copyright (c) 2007, Grand Forks Herald, N.D.

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