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2012 Democratic National Convention

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2012 Democratic National Convention

The 2012 Democratic National Convention was a gathering, held from September 4–6, 2012, at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina, in which delegates of the Democratic Party nominated President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden for reelection, in the 2012 United States national election.

On April 3, 2012, President Barack Obama won the Maryland and District of Columbia primaries, giving him more than the required 2,778 delegates to secure the presidential nomination. He had previously announced that Vice President Joe Biden would remain as his vice presidential running mate in his re-election bid.

The convention was the 47th Democratic National Convention.

First Lady Michelle Obama announced on February 1, 2011, in an email to supporters that Charlotte, North Carolina, had been chosen as the site for the 2012 Convention. The event was the first nominating convention of a major party ever held in North Carolina. Charlotte had beaten three other finalists, Cleveland, Minneapolis and St. Louis. It was expected that Charlotte's hosting of this event would generate more than $150 million for Charlotte and surrounding metropolitan areas and bring over 35,000 delegates and visitors. North Carolina was a closely contested state in the 2008 presidential election, with Barack Obama winning the state's 15 electoral votes by just 13,692 votes (out of more than 4.2 million votes cast) and Democrats Kay Hagan and Bev Perdue winning close elections for U.S. Senate and Governor, respectively.

On October 28, 2009, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) sent out letters to potential host cities seeking their interest in bidding for the convention. The deadline for cities to submit letters of interest was January 11, 2010. In March 2010, the DNC emailed interested cities request for proposals. The deadline for cities to respond was May 21, 2010.

On June 30, 2010, the DNC announced the four finalist cities.

All three dates of the convention were held at the Time Warner Cable Arena. The last night, Thursday, September 6, was originally scheduled to be held at the 72,000-seat Bank of America Stadium, where presumptive presidential nominee Barack Obama was to deliver his acceptance speech. After Convention officials insisted that they would hold Thursday's activities at the stadium "rain or shine", the venue was moved to the 20,000 seat indoor arena "due to thunderstorm threat." Some in the media questioned the move, wondering whether it was motivated more by an inability to fill the 70,000-seat stadium and the possibility that empty seats would show a lack of enthusiasm. The risk of severe weather wasn't high; Charlotte NBC affiliate WCNC-TV chief meteorologist Brad Panovich tweeted that the "[s]evere threat is almost zero Thursday night & chance of rain is 20%", adding, "It's a simple question...if you had a Panthers game, concert or soccer match with a 20% chance of storms would you cancel 24 hrs prior?" The date of Obama's acceptance speech caused the National Football League to move the Kickoff game, normally on a Thursday, to Wednesday, September 5, to avoid a conflict. This in turn caused the DNC to move Joe Biden's vice presidential acceptance speech, normally held the day before the presidential acceptance speech, to Thursday, before Obama's speech, to avoid a conflict with the NFL game.

The convention was the first Democratic convention scheduled for only three days since 1948, joining only the 1972 Republican National Convention as the only conventions in modern convention history to be scheduled for three days. The start date of September 4 is also the latest a major convention has ever started.

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