Oct 23, 2008 6:05 pm US/Central
Daley: $2M Price Tag On Obama Election Night Party
Campaign Will Pay Full Cost, Mayor Daley Says
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Workers are installing phone lines and temporary structures in preparation for Barack Obama's election night party in Grant Park.
CBS
Mayor Richard Daley is putting an approximately $2 million price tag on the big Barack Obama election night rally in Grant Park. But the mayor is promising the Obama campaign will foot the entire bill, and taxpayers won't pay a dime.
CBS 2's Mike Parker reports Hutchinson Field, on the south end of the park, was not the mayor's first choice for the big Nov. 4th party, but he was overruled by Obama campaign officials. So, it will be right there.
The mayor would have preferred the United Center, because crowd control would have been easier. But that is not to be.
"Could you see me saying no to Senator Obama? Give me a break...I'm not that dumb," Daley said, laughing, at a press conference Thursday.
So preparations are continuing in Grant Park. Phone lines and temporary structures are being put up as just the beginning steps leading up to the event where Obama hopes to make a victory speech.
It's not known yet if it will be an invitation-only or open even, a decision that has to be made soon. The larger the crowd, the more security will be an issue, the more metal detectors will be needed.
"Obviously if you've got somebody who could be the president-elect, there will be magnetometers and screening," Chicago Police Department Superintendent Jody Weis said.
Daley added, "You need police, you need fire, you need sanitation, you need an enormous amount of people there."
Buildings that surround the site will have to be closed or secured, some streets will be shut down and extra buses and trains will have to be put into service. The price for all this, the price the Obama campaign has agreed to pay, is an estimated $2 million.
"It's costly but they raised a lot of money in the campaign," Daley said.
Asked if he would attend, Daley said, "Why not? You better believe it."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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