Top Republicans impressed by Cleveland's 2016 convention bid

CLEVELAND (AP) — A site-selection panel considering Cleveland’s bid for the 2016 GOP convention has found no weaknesses in the city’s proposal, the chairman of the Republican National Committee said today.

RNC chairman Reince Priebus said Republican officials have found the efforts made by the local host committee to sell Cleveland to the GOP to be remarkable.

“I think the rest of the cities will have a lot of work to do,” Priebus said, referring to fellow convention hopefuls Denver, Kansas City and Dallas.

The party sent a team to determine if the city and its facilities would be suitable to host the convention, an event that would bring tens of thousands of people and hundreds of millions of dollars to Cleveland and northeast Ohio.

Cleveland is the first of four stops by the site selection committee. A decision is expected in mid-August.