In August 2012, thousands crowded the Bay area for the Republican National Convention.
Even Tampa's Democratic mayor was a major supporter of having the Republicans in the city. But a couple of weeks ago, when the invitation came in to host the Democrat's political bash in 2016, Tampa's top democrat was not as enthusiastic.
"I assumed that we would get this letter and was prepared in having giving it a lot of thought as to what the answer might be," said Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn.
The answer is no. The big factor, he said, is money.
Tampa's host committee for the Republican National Convention raised more than $50 million for their last convention. Much of the money came from big corporations.
"The city had to come out of its pocket for very little money," Buckhorn said. "Other than some for aesthetics and improvements, we didn't come out of pocket for much. I couldn't guarantee that wouldn't be the case for the DNC."
Unlike the Republicans, the Democrats have placed restrictions on donations from big corporations. Mayor Buckhorn said he doesn't believe Bay area Democrats can raise the money needed and he refuses to have the city on the hook financially.
"I'm not willing to put the city at risk for tens of millions of dollars in contributions to host this event when we don't have it," Buckhorn said.
The Mayor's decision doesn't sit well with party loyalists like Victor DiMaio.
"To say that I'm disappointed is putting it mildly," DiMaio said. "It is ironic that we do have a Democratic mayor and we have an entire Democratic city council here in Tampa and we couldn't work something out."
DiMaio said where there's a will, there's a way and believes the Clintons could have helped raise money to bring the convention to Tampa.
Democrat or not, Mayor Buckhorn said his office is a drafting a letter this weekend to tell the DNC no thank you.