Sherrod Brown, Rob Portman and the Democratic National Convention

Another moment of bipartisanship: U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown (D) and Rob Portman (R) are urging the Democratic National Committee to pick Columbus for its 2016 convention.

(Sabrina Eaton, Northeast Ohio Media Group)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Ohio's U.S. senators -- Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican Rob Portman -- are joining forces again in a show of unity aimed at delivering a presidential convention to the battleground Buckeye State.

In a letter dated Tuesday, Brown and Portman urged Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz to choose Columbus over rival cities New York and Philadelphia as host for her party's 2016 event.

Wasserman Schultz has been visiting the three finalists this week. She and a DNC team spent Monday in Columbus. A decision is expected soon.

The Brown-Portman letter reads:

The birthplace of flight. The Buckeye State. The State of Ohio has many nicknames and is known for many things, but it is also known as the "Heart of it All."

We are writing today to support the city of Columbus' bid for the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Columbus is well positioned and prepared to host a successful convention. The city is a day's drive from about half the U.S. population and it is a world-class city with enough convention space, hotel rooms, and vibrant downtown event sites to meet the demands of a national convention. Columbus also has great assets, such as The Ohio State University Stadium, Nationwide Arena, Greater Columbus Convention Center, the beautiful Scioto Mile, hundreds of restaurants, and event spaces. It has nearly 4,000 downtown hotel rooms and 20,000 additional hotel rooms within a 20-minute drive of downtown.

We hope you enjoyed your visit yesterday and we encourage you to select Columbus for the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Thank you for your consideration.

Brown and Portman made a similar pitch in July, when Cleveland was in the running to host both the Democratic and Republican national conventions. The GOP selected Cleveland, thus eliminating the city from the Democratic competition.

Now many observers wonder if Democrats will feel pressured to choose Columbus and cancel out any swing-state goodwill that might build for Republicans.

Political calculus likely plays a part in such decisions. But amenities, logistics and -- perhaps most importantly -- money are the major considerations.