The Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting this morning that our neighbor to the west, Cleveland, is in the running to play host to the 2008 Republican National Convention.

The newspaper quotes Bob Bennett, the chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, as saying the city has better than a 25 percent chance of landing the big party.

Other top contenders include New York, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Tampa-St. Petersburg.

Strategically speaking, Cleveland and Tampa-St. Pete would make the most sense. Ohio and Florida are both big-time swing states that will likely be major factors in the '08 elections.

Of course, here in Erie, having a major national convention only 90 minutes away would no doubt lead to major media coverage of the event locally.