Extended Bar Hours At DNC, RNC Not Likely

In Denver and Minneapolis/St. Paul bars close at 2 AM, and efforts to extend those "happy hours" to 4 AM have met with opposition or outright dismissal in Denver and lukewarm support in Minnesota. Most concerns are based on extra police hours and security costs:

Unlike in Minnesota's twin cities, the current hour that bars are forced to close in Denver doesn't appear to be an issue for bar owners who might have been thinking about doing even more business during the upcoming Democratic National Convention.
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LoDo's Bar and Grill manager Dave Shaughnessy said his bar is already booked solid for convention week, without any special requests.

"None of the people that are having parties here have asked for us to stay open past 2 a.m. It hasn't even come up on our radar," he said.

The Denver mayor's office says they haven't had a single request to keep the bars open later. They say that didn't happen in Boston at the last Democratic convention and they don't think it's necessary here.

That news comes as a big relief to Denver city councilman Charlie Brown.

"I don't care what political party is here. I don't care if it's the bull moose party, I don't want any part of (such a proposal). There's going to be enough potential chaos in Denver ... we don't need to add to it and fuel the fire."

Ed Morrissey at Hot Air argues that the Twin Cities should consider the modest adjustment for the days surrounding the convention if they want to be considered a "world-class metropolitan area."

Denver would be wise to do the same.