Find out if you're smarter than a reporter or columnist at our Battleground Brews trivia contest

The Cleveland Plain Dealer ^ | July 8, 2015 | Chris Quinn, Vice President of Content

[2ndDivisionVet]

With preparations hard under way in Cleveland for the 2016 Republican National Convention, I set out today to answer a couple of questions about our coverage:

Where's the fun?

And, are you smarter than a politics writer or a Tipoff columnist?

The first question is often posed by Peter Kageyama, who writes books about how to make cities into places that people love. One of his major points when he makes presentations is that when city officials plan a project, someone in the room should have the duty of asking, "Where's the fun?"

That question should be asked in the planning of projects beyond city improvements, and because I was fortunate to hear a talk by Kageyama earlier this year, it is a question we remembered to ask as we planned our long-term coverage of the convention.

That event will bring 50,000 people to Cleveland next July. Outside of the Olympics, it's about as big as events get, and covering the long lead up to it is daunting. We've studied how our peers in other cities handled big political conventions and began rolling out our plan earlier this year.

A few months ago, we unveiled a page on cleveland.com devoted to convention coverage and politics. There, you will find stories by reporter Andrew Tobias, who is devoted full-time to tracking the convention preparations. Recent pieces involve rogue hotels that have reneged on promises to set aside blocs of rooms for the convention host committee, the economic benefits for the region in hosting the event and how another title run by the Cleveland Cavaliers would pressure the folks at the Q to get the arena ready by convention time.

Also on the page are stories by politics writer Henry Gomez, who produces a daily politics notebook, a monthly power ranking of the candidates for the Republican and Democratic nominations and stories about Ohio Gov. John Kasich's plans to join a quite crowded field of Republican candidates, which seems to grow daily.

Henry also is one of a half-dozen reporters responsible for keeping you updated each day on the battle for the nomination. The team produces regular – often daily – updates on many of the candidates vying to take the stage on the final night of the Cleveland convention, collecting news from across the nation about what those candidates are doing and where. Henry keeps track of Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz.

The rest of the team includes Washington Bureau Chief Steve Koff (Marco Rubio, Scott Walker and Rick Perry), Washington Bureau reporter Sabrina Eaton (Rand Paul, Chris Christie and Donald Trump), Columbus Bureau Chief Bob Higgs (John Kasich and Rick Santorum), Columbus Bureau reporters Jeremy Pelzer (Carly Fiorina and Mike Huckabee) and Jackie Borchardt (Bobby Jindal and Ben Carson).

If you'd like to have those stories arrive via email, we soon will introduce our politics newsletter, to be delivered each weekday. We will post information on how to sign up as soon as the newsletter is ready.

But, where's the fun?

As we discussed our plans over the last few months, we realized that a lot of people in Northeast Ohio are excited about the convention but have no way to participate in the buzz. We think we have a solution in Battleground Brews: a new politics trivia contest emceed by Henry and Plain Dealer Tipoff Columnist Mike McIntyre, who also hosts "The Sound of Ideas" on WCPN FM 90.3.

Teams of up to six people will compete in the contest at Portside Distillery, on the East Bank of the Flats, from 7 to 9 p.m. Monday, Aug. 3. That's the week that the candidates for the Republican nomination come to Cleveland for the first debate, on Aug. 6, so politics will be at the forefront of local conversation.

The winning team will get a guided tour of Portside's distillery and its brewery, along with a $100 Visa gift card. We're thinking of continuing the contests monthly through the convention.

So that's the fun.

As for whether you are smarter than a politics reporter or a Tipoff columnist, there's one way to find out. Space is limited, so please register early.

(ENTRY-FORM-AT-LINK)

[Conservative4Ever]

Cleveland? As in Ohio? Seriously? Not gonna worry about it, not invited, nor do I live there. Maybe Cleveland is a lovely area.

[Sicon]

Find out if you’re smarts than a reporter?! Please. The plant on my kitchen window sill is smarter than 98% of “journalists”, and more honest than any of them, by far.