Two looks at the planning going on in the Tampa Bay area for next year's Republican National Convention.

Enterprising property owners hope to jump on the money train they see rolling toward Tampa Bay by offering apartment and condo rentals for the 2012 Republican National Convention. Nightly and weekly rentals are now being advertised online, targeting 50,000 delegates, dignitaries and journalists who will invade downtown Tampa as the event begins on Aug. 27, 2012. Some property owners will hit it big. Story here.

And to get an idea of the scale of next year's Republican National Convention, consider its appetite for electricity. For a big Tampa Bay Lightning game, with a sellout crowd and maybe a concert outside, the St. Pete Times Forum uses about 4 megawatts of power. But when the Republicans come to town, the forum could need more than twice that. And the entire convention-media complex could require up to 19 megawatts of electricity — enough to power 7,600 homes. No problem, says Tampa Electric, which has 40 people working on convention planning. Story here.