[StBernard] Governor Blanco issues statement on presidential debate committee decision

[Westley Annis]

Governor Blanco issues statement on presidential debate committee decision 

BATON ROUGE - Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco issued the following statement today after learning New Orleans was eliminated from a list of cities to host a presidential debate:

"I am extremely disappointed to learn New Orleans was rejected as a site to host a presidential debate, especially for the reason given, that the city has not sufficiently recovered to be able to host such an event. Such large events are the city's bread and butter, and recognizing this, the city and state have worked to get convention capacity up and running quickly. As a result, New Orleans has played host to many large gatherings, conventions, music festivals and major sporting events since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, including NBA and NCAA championship games to be played in 2008. Such a decision is harmful to the region's efforts. There is no better way to help our recovery than to give a boost to the tourism engine driving New Orleans, and to debate issues important to the Gulf Coast and to our country at ground zero of our nation's largest natural disaster."

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