Arenamanship for '72

The shopping list included a minimum of 20,000 rooms in first-class hotels, plus at least 1,250 caucus-and-booze suites; a hall to seat 15,000, with shuttle buses from the hotels for 10,000.

Last week the Democrats found what they wanted, choosing Miami Beach for their 1972 political convention. The runner-up was Louisville, which did everything but hand over its distilleries to the Democrats to get the nod, but lacked the rooms Miami Beach could offer. That tipped the balance for the Democrats.

For their part, the G.O.P. will probably end up in a city that never even considered bidding: San Diego. President Nixon seems taken with the idea of holding his renomination convention only a half-hour's hop from the Western White House helipad. The city has managed to scrape together adequate facilities, but some of the townsfolk are less than enthusiastic. Democratic Mayor Frank Curran pointed out that the city might lay out more than it would get in return. "Some of those delegates bring their own lunches and booze," he scoffed. "Some even sleep in their cars."

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