Spin.

New Orleans Didn’t Meet the Test for a Debate - New York Times

I would have loved for New Orleans to have been ready to meet that test. I would have also wished for greater geographic diversity. But as a member of the commission, I would not have voted for a site that would not have met the basic tests, despite any sentimental or business-oriented overtones.

This is silly, and no real defense of the presidential debate rejection of New Orleans. What exactly were the "basic tests" and how did N. O. miss them? Ms Ridings, surveying us with eagle's eye from her Olympian perch, doesn't say.

And she doesn't begin to answer the editorial she purports to refute.

Committee members said the city’s sponsors — four local universities and a leading post-hurricane recovery group — failed to guarantee adequate security, finances and logistics. Small wonder residents and boosters find that hard to believe, considering the feisty city already has been handling everything from presidential drop-ins to mega-conventions, with the national football championship game and its hordes of visitors on the winter schedule.

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