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La Salle Professor Talks About Financial Benefits Of Hosting 2016 DNC

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Gary R'Nel spoke with Dr. Michael Smith, an Associate Professor of Communications from La Salle University, on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT about Philadelphia being chosen to host the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

Smith said Philadelphia will reap a significant financial benefit from when the Democrats come to town.

"I think there is a great deal to celebrate regarding the economic impact. Typically, for every dollar that a city puts in to hosting a major party convention, there's three dollars in return. There's somewhere in the neighborhood of $240 million or more at stake here and, again, I'm no economist, but I think that's pretty good return for the city."

He also said the fact that Philadelphia has been a Democratic stronghold for generations played some role in choosing the city.

"I think they do have an eye toward local politics throughout the suburbs and the next election. I think both New York and Philadelphia, two of the three contenders, Brooklyn, I guess, are largely Democratic cities, so I think that appealed to them in some respects. But I think it's fair to take [DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz] at her word when she said that security, logistics and the resources that were able to put behind it were the main reasons, but there's always a little bit of politics."

August of 2016 will mark the tenth time Philadelphia has hosted a party-nominating convention, and Smith commented that we've always managed to make the most of it.

"We have a long and proud history, as Mayor Nutter said in his remarks, 'It's been a long time since we hosted the Democrats,' in what's considered to be a pretty heavily Democratic city. That's good news for the local party I think. But certainly, we have a long history and we've done them well. We've had some historic conventions here, and I think it's going to be a good opportunity to have another one here."

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