Great Idea

The DNC will hold its annual meeting next year in New Orleans. What that city, which relied on conventions and tourism even in good times, needs more than anything is an injection of cash. This isn't the 2008 convention, but it's what the DNC can do right now:

The Democratic National Committee will hold its spring 2006 meeting in New Orleans, providing an economic boost of 400 visitors as the city continues its recovery from Hurricane Katrina, officials said Monday.

"We wanted to make a statement that New Orleans will come back and we wanted in a small way to contribute to that effort by moving a major convention to New Orleans," party Chairman Howard Dean said in a telephone interview.

The Party also showed it was not as doctrinaire to special interests with this move:

Democratic events usually are held only in union hotels, Dean said, but with the only available venue for the event being the nonunion Sheraton Hotel the party was able to get labor officials to give the party "a full pass on this one."

Dean also made overtures about holding the 2008 Democratic Convention there, but acknowledged that might be a little much for the struggling city to handle. Still, 400 visitors by April is about what they can handle, and I think it's a fine gesture that one of the first organizations to return to New Orleans in the wake of Katrina is the national Democratic Party.