There are a lot of pros and cons to hosting a national political convention. But I think for Detroit in 2020 the pros very much would outweigh the cons, and it would make good sense for the parties, too.

For Detroit, the long and the short of it is that it would be another chance to show off all of the city's improvements and massive downtown developments. Yes, it would also fill hotel rooms and restaurants and generate both income for locals & additional tax revenue for all levels of government. But really, there would be a huge amount of national and international press about the city's improvements, attractions & facilities.

If Republicans held their convention here, it would be a chance to remember the 40th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's successful Detroit convention & campaign. It would also serve as a celebration for Trump's 2016 campaign cracking the "Blue Wall" and winning the industrial midwest.

If Democrats held their convention here, it would offer an opportunity to show they are serious about winning back the "Trump Democrats" to their side. It would also give them a chance to show a major city with a Democrat mayor that is demonstrably improving city services.

I would imagine that Republicans would favor Little Caesar's Arena, with Democrats preferring Ford Field [[Democrats have many more delegates and officials to accommodate than Republicans do, making a larger convention facility preferable for them).

I'm an independent conservative, and not really a fan of either party [[left the GOP a year ago), but I can appreciate the business & marketing opportunity a major national political convention offers. I would very happily support either convention in Detroit [[or both; although it has been many decades since both parties had their convention in the same city; 1948 was the last that I can think of).

There are of course problems. The organizing committee needs to aggressively fund raise and plan details down to the minutiae. But we've demonstrated with the Super Bowl, Final Four and the annual Auto Show that Detroiters can do that.

Protests & demonstrations are also a big issue. But Midwestern cities are actually better than Eastern ones, in that they are much more spread out. So there can be plenty of places for protesters to gather and/or march while allowing the proceedings to get underway unhindered by the demonstrations. I think Detroit could host both a convention and the reaction to a convention peacefully and respectfully.

Thoughts?