Come to Sacramento in 2008 or Arnold will rip your spine out

And now, here's the pitch from Sacramento . . .

The quickest way to persuade NCEW members to meet in Sacramento in 2008 would be to guarantee the chance to meet Arnold Schwarzenegger. Unfortunately, such a promise would constitute fraud. For one thing, it's far from certain that he will be governor in 2008. For another, Arnold (as everybody calls him) doesn't even really live in Sacramento. And, like the eight-hundred-pound gorilla (on, admittedly, a slightly smaller scale) the governor of California goes where he wants and meets whom he wants when he wants.

Still, the mere fact that voters in the nations largest state chose a Mr.-Universe-turned-action-hero as their governor suggests a good reason to gather in Sacramento three years hence. For better or worse, wherever the states of the Union are headed, California is almost certain to get there first. If that's the case, other states' futures look like this: increasingly diverse, inexorably growing, relentlessly fractious, irredeemably broke, arguably ungovernable, and highly entertaining.

The capital of California, then, is the perfect place for the nations editorial writers to consider the state of the nation's states and the host of issues confronting the states, issues that are high on the agendas of most of editorial pages. Education, growth, taxation, climate change, prisons, immigration, legal reform, affordable housing, stem cell research, steroids in sports-California and Sacramento are battlegrounds for all of them and a host of others.

It's far too early to settle on a convention theme, though. 2008 is a presidential election year, and the issues of that election are sure to frame the content of the NCEW convention. But as the seat of government in the worlds fifth-largest economy, Sacramento is well-situated to draw speakers on a wide variety of subjects, from the most local to the global.

If that sounds too much like work, well, like, chill out, dude, as we Califbrnians say. Sacramento is the perfect place for NCEW members to pursue other interests as well.

Sacramento is easy to get to. It is served by a number of major airlines-Delta, Northwest, United, Southwest, Jet Blue, Delta-several of which are likely still to be in business in the fall of 2008. Members who live near enough to drive to Sacramento can do so on 1-80 or 1-5.

The conventions planners will be able to choose among several hotels as headquarters for the meeting. Evening entertainments can include a cruise on the Sacramento River (which flows through downtown), a vineyard dinner, and an event at the Mondavi Center for the Arts at the University of California, Davis.

Convention attendees who want to take a few days after the convention to explore Northern California will find it easy to do. Sacramento is located within a couple of hours of San Francisco, Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada, Yosemite National Park, and the Napa Valley wine country (depending, alas, on traffic; this is California, after all). Opportunities for outdoor recreation-hiking, mountain hiking, fishing, golf, tennis-abound.

The Sacramento Bee looks forward to welcoming the NCEW convention in 2008. And we're sure Arnold does, too-or will, if he's still around by then.

David Holwerk is editorial page editor of The Sacramento Bee. E-mail Dholwerk@sacbee.com

Copyright MASTHEAD National Conference of Editorial Writers Autumn 2005
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