The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

(Page 2 of 2)

The decision saves the DNC about $2 million, and means that journalists, cameramen and others associated with the media will most likely have to endure security check-ins at least twice a day, as the media center will be outside the convention's security perimeter.

The decision to save money came as a surprise to most of the media elites who only a month ago had complained about the poor facilities the Democrats were giving them. The new media space must be adapted for more than 1,000 journalists and their support staff. "It's worse than what we were giving them six weeks ago," says a DNC events planner in Boston. "But we can't afford to give them anything else. We need to find savings someplace. We're already looking at cost overruns for the week."

The announced plans for the press working area are yet another indication that the DNC is not pulling in the kind of money it claimed to be raising for its Boston convention. And it also appears to reveal the growing rift between the party and Boston's city government. The larger building the DNC had been considering within the security perimeter was found for it by the Boston mayor's office. But that space would have required almost $2 million in renovations to make it usable for the press.

p>"I don't get the impression that the Boston Democratic establishment is bending over backwards for us," says the DNC event planner. "As things have moved along, the relationship between us and them has gotten worse." br> /p>

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