Vice Presidential Debate Costs Cleveland

As the campaigning draws to a close tomorrow, we can look back at the more than 45 times that the candidates have visited the great state of Ohio. As a “political battleground state” Ohio has been the target to visits by the Campaign Corps from both of the major political parties. Cleveland, on October 5^th, was host to the Vice President and Senator Edwards (hopefully after tomorrow he will still be just Senator Edwards) as they exchanged ideas in the first and only Vice Presidential debate. As reported in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the City and Case Western Reserve University were proud to host the event, even though it meant spending large sums of money on safety measures, and cosmetic adjustments to the surrounding areas. The VP’s debate cost Cleveland a reported $227,406. Unfortunately these costs have been bared by cities across our state, each of the other visits costing between $15,000 and $30,000. Not including the costs that the state highway patrol has had to shoulder since last May. The question is whether or not the visits have had a economic benefit on the cities the candidates have visited. Well in my opinion, the hundreds of man hours logged (Most of which are time and a half) must have helped the local economies in some way, shape or form.