While President Obama was mobilizing a large and loud crowd of thousands of supporters in Wisconsin, Mitt Romney was fundraising off of a crowd of 650 in California.
Here is how Fox 11 described the Obama rally in Wisconsin last night, “Then the President continued his attack on the GOP ticket in front of an estimated 18,000 people at the Summerfest grounds along the lakeshore.”
While Obama was rocking the crowd in Wisconsin, Mitt Romney was off trying to raise money for his cash poor campaign. According to the AP, “Speaking to roughly 650 supporters gathered at Grand Del Mar, a luxury hotel north of San Diego, Romney said his campaign schedule has been hectic. I’m not even going to be able to go home today,” he said of his second home in nearby La Jolla. “We’re just coming to town to see you and keep the campaign going. It’s nonstop.”
Obama spent his day talking to tens of thousands of supporters, while Romney was complaining about not being able to visit his second home at a fundraiser. The right is outraged and claiming that there is no way that 18,000 people came out to hear Obama. They are accusing the media of pushing Obama propaganda. They believe that the real attendance at the event was 5,000. They offer no proof to back up their claims, but for the sake of argument, let’s assume Obama’s attendance was 5,000-10,000. Does it really make a difference?
Instead of Romney being outdrawn 30 to 1 on Saturday, he would have been only drawn only by maybe 10 or 20 to 1. Those still aren’t good numbers. If this pattern occurred on Election Day, Romney would lose in landslide.
Video taken by those who attended the rally suggests that the Obama event was large, and very loud.
The right wing talking point that nobody is showing up for Obama events is a part of their broader election strategy. The whole point is to make Obama appear to be as unpopular as Romney. Everyone knows Mitt Romney can’t draw a crowd. Romney was speaking to crowds in the hundreds when he was campaigning for the nomination, and he is still speaking to hundreds of supporters as the Republican nominee. The Romney campaign has been holding their events in smaller and smaller venues in order to create the appearance of a packed house. The truth is that the Romney campaign has tried everything including giving things away in order to entice people to see him speak.
In contrast, Democrats have been coming out in big numbers for Obama’s rallies. Polling shows that Democrats are more enthusiastic than Republicans, and the data passes the eyeball test when one observes the difference in the two campaigns’ live events. Republicans have been reduced to denying reality, so it is time for a little straight talk.
Before Saturday the Republican talking point was that Obama was worried about Wisconsin, but this is the same strategy that Obama used on McCain in 2008. If Republicans want to ignore the polls and waste time campaign in Wisconsin, Obama will be happy to spend his time campaigning in Virginia, Florida, and North Carolina. Wisconsin is fool’s gold for the Romney/Ryan ticket. Seventeen percent of those who voted against recalling Scott Walker plan to support Obama in November.
All you really need to know about the state of this contest as it currently stands is that while Romney is out begging for cash, Obama is concentrating on getting his base out. If all people who are attending Obama’s rallies show up at the polls, the president will win a second term.
PoliticusUSA
G+
Facebook
Kiku
Sep. 23rd, 2012 at 5:59 pm
Glad to see the enthusiasm for Obama, let’s translate that into votes!
loading...
Dave
Sep. 24th, 2012 at 12:23 pm
Venue holds 25,000 not 5,000.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Amphitheater
you just assuming people aren’t smart enough to look it up?
loading...
Shiva (Moderator)
Sep. 24th, 2012 at 10:23 pm
Richard, its a pity you cant post without being a jerk.
loading...
Chris T
Sep. 25th, 2012 at 12:43 pm
I attended this rally. It was held in the BMO Harris pavilion, holding 3000. Next to the Marcus Ampatheater. The lines were miles long, got there at 2 pm, didn’t get into the summerfest grounds until 4 pm. Confirmed, due to enterance counters like in a subway 18000 people attended. They had very large TV panels where the other people watched. The Summerfest grounds are huge and hold about 100,000 people for festivals. It was a great rally.
loading...
Jill
Sep. 26th, 2012 at 4:33 pm
I was there too, and I would definitely agree that 18,000 is closer to the actual number than 5-10 thousand. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a longer line in my life, and I was more than happy to stand in it. As usual, Republicans are spinning to try to overcome their losing numbers.
loading...
Marmen
Sep. 24th, 2012 at 12:54 pm
dammmmn, you just got told! what an idiot!
loading...
Home Studio
Sep. 23rd, 2012 at 6:21 pm
I sure hope that Obama supporters don’t take this as a reason not to bother voting. We need everyone’s vote to make sure we never hear the words “President Romney.”
I’m showing people how to make recordings in their own home studio to create an even wider base of support for Obama.
loading...
Barbara Carlton
Sep. 23rd, 2012 at 8:03 pm
It is more important than ever to vote. The 1% certainly will.
loading...
Sean
Sep. 23rd, 2012 at 6:26 pm
I drive a pedi-cab in Milwaukee, and its a mile and a quarter from the south gate of the summerfest grounds to the north gate. There were people lined up that whole distance and then looped around another couple of buildings and made the line an estimated mile and a half long. This line stayed over a mile long, even though people were walking into the festival grounds from 2:30 when the doors opened until about 5:15 when an end to a seemingly endless line finally appeared. The event organizers will have an exact number, because each person entering was required to fill out their ticket with their name on it in order to enter! It was truly remarkable to witness!!!
loading...
Chris T
Sep. 25th, 2012 at 12:46 pm
I talked to a team leader for a community for the Obama campaign. It was short notice, they couldn’t get the ampatheater. She said 5000 tickets x 3 were given out in Obama offices, plus they were giving out tickets onsite.
loading...
Oliver Chiapco
Sep. 23rd, 2012 at 6:46 pm
Go out and vote! GObama!
loading...
Jeff Pinkerton
Sep. 23rd, 2012 at 6:52 pm
Why are we relentless being told that according to the polls this is a tight race, when stories like this, and many, many others tell you otherwise?
loading...
Lsmitty
Sep. 23rd, 2012 at 8:09 pm
Hi Jeff,
It’s the (MSM) mainstream media, that’s all. So they can keep their ratings up.
Also, if you tell people what they want to hear often enough, they will believe it. On both sides……for the Dems to keep them complacent and stay home. For the repugs so they can feel important.
Thanks to POB the American people are finally waking up. And Robme showing how he and the elite rich really feel about us 47%. It is an insult especially for the media to keep pushing this meme. Just vote these crazies out of office.
They are the freeloaders, doing nothing and getting paid very well with all the perks and great health care.
loading...
Gramiam
Sep. 24th, 2012 at 12:31 am
We NEED to think of this race as “too close to call” right up until all ballots are cast. This is our country at stake and our future. Time for elation and celebration is after our President is re-elected and the House and Senate are back in safe hands. Not one minute before!
loading...
majii
Sep. 23rd, 2012 at 6:56 pm
Lies, projection, propaganda campaigns, ad hominem attacks, and anger are reliable RW nutjob tools. Whenever they read/hear something that shakes up their version of reality, they get angry, then they resort to lying and launch a huge propaganda campaign that allows them to maintain the integrity of their echo chamber. After this, the projection and ad hominem attacks come along, and we hear things like “Just look at the thousands that have shown up for Romney’s events at ____,” “Obummer only had 200 in Wisconsin,” “The only people who attend Obummer’s events are those looking for a handout,” and “the lamestream media is deliberately not reporting the true size of Romney’s campaign events!!”
loading...
Andrew Rei
Sep. 23rd, 2012 at 7:03 pm
While it looks better and better for the President being re-elected, the real fight is in the Congressional elections and state legislatures. If the President is re-elected but the GOP have the majority in the US House and/or US Senate (as in, the Demos don’t have a supermajority), the next two years will be a lot like the last two years. This is why a Democratic wave is needed across the country. Especially important is getting the Demos a 60-seat, filibuster-quashing supermajority in the Senate plus the House majority. Both Speaker Boehner and Minority Leader McConnell have already said that they’ll continue to obstruct the President if he’s re-elected. So long as the GOP leadership is telling us that they don’t care about the country, we should make sure there are as few GOP politicians across the country as possible.
loading...
Doris~
Sep. 23rd, 2012 at 7:22 pm
Myth 4 more years 4 more years of your tax returns
Obama~Biden 4 more years 4 more years 2012′
loading...
Shiva (Moderator)
Sep. 23rd, 2012 at 7:23 pm
Myther hasnt released one full year yet. Part of one year and a summary of another.
loading...
Chris T
Sep. 25th, 2012 at 12:50 pm
Mittens Robme overpaid his taxes. He did it to show he paid 14%, in reality, he can file an amendment and get back money, making his actual rate 9%. This is just how crafty and corrupt this man is. He said he never paid under 13%. SHOW US YOUR LAST 10 YEARS OF TAXES MITTENS.
loading...
Martha Alexander
Sep. 23rd, 2012 at 7:33 pm
No wonder he has to bus in supporters! …and if they don’t let him he threatens to not show up. wonder what he will do for the debates?
loading...
Molly Brown
Sep. 23rd, 2012 at 7:47 pm
I was at the rally on Saturday and it was huge. The few Obama campaign offices that had tickets to the event handed out 20,000 in just two days. They probably could have handed out twice as many if they had them.
I got to the rally two hours before they were scheduled to open the gates and there was already a long line. I was told that eventually the line got to be 2 miles long and had people 2 and 3 across.
The amphitheater was packed and there was standing room only among the happy and enthusiastic supporters. You could see an endless stream of people coming in to the area and filling up the area around the amphitheater as far as you could see. There easily could be 18,000 people there and they probably should have held the event in the larger amphitheater next door.
About halfway through his speech it started to lightly rain but nobody left. Finally it stopped and a rainbow appeared in the sky and the crowd gave a huge round of applause. As Obama was ending his speech he said that the sun is coming out and it was! A perfect ending to another great speech by Obama.
loading...
signjay
Sep. 23rd, 2012 at 7:52 pm
I think Rove and the Kochs and their ilk are cooking up some bigtime shenanigans right now since it’s obvious their boy is tanking. I wouldn’t put it past these goons to try something really violent, unspeakable. They would like to see Obama “taken out” one way or the other. I pray this doesn’t happen, and we can’t let it. There is no difference between these guys and the Mob. At least the Mob isn’t pretending to be anything it isn’t.
loading...
MJ
Sep. 23rd, 2012 at 8:25 pm
The GOP has been making the claim that Obama can’t draw a crowd since the campaign kicked off on May 5th. I was at the “empty” May 5th event, and I was at the Sept. 17th event where people outnumbered tickets available.
loading...
shell517nj
Sep. 23rd, 2012 at 9:43 pm
Romney is the guy who buses in his own supporters at his rallys. I don;t think he can handle being booed as ryan was by the seniors. lol!
loading...
Sequencer
Sep. 23rd, 2012 at 11:02 pm
Everyone, please make sure that your neighbors have the ID to vote, because the Republicans might be able to win if they can disenfranchise enough people. And agitate for voter suppression regulations to be overturned NOW.
Then insist that vote totals do not go through Republican owned machines. It seems pretty obvious that Gore won in at least one state where the results changed so that they didn’t match the exit polls–which are very reliable indicators of the true result.
loading...
Rosaleee
Sep. 24th, 2012 at 12:02 am
People who take the time to stand endless hours in line in order to attend an event such as this will surely take the trouble (and far LESS time) to get out and vote.
What you are seeing here is a dramatic surge in enthusiasm for Obama. And I think the reason the daily poll tallies aren’t reflecting this level of enthusiasm (and lack of it for Romney) because the polling agencies aren’t accounting for the massive increase in voter registration and turnout that you will see with this election.
The pollsters select a certain percentage of identifiable Republicans, Democrats and Indpendents. Depending on the ratio, Obama comes out either far ahead or slightly ahead. The polls that show Romney close (or in some cases ahead) oversample Republicans.
In fact, Republicans are a minority in this country, according to party registration rolls!
But that also doesn’t account for the people who will be voting in this election for the very first time.
I believe you will see a massive surge in registered Democrats among first time voters, and none of the polls are considering this.
loading...
heartless500
Sep. 24th, 2012 at 8:15 am
I am a registered Independent. They tried to tell me I HAD to pick one or the other (D or R), I said, No, I don’t, and I refuse to be categorized in that manner. I wrote in “Independent” on the registration form, and they accepted it.
That said, I WILL be voting for President Obama again this election year, just as I voted for him in ’08.
But, we must make sure that the TRUTH gets out there, and that everyone that is registered to vote actually DOES vote! Take NOTHING for granted! Do not get complacent in polls showing Obama in the lead. We must act as if he is behind, and our lives depend on getting to the polls – because they DO!
Obama 2012! Four more years!
loading...
John Woodbury
Sep. 24th, 2012 at 12:22 am
Regarding that claim of the media exaggerating the numbers attending President’s campaign rallies is like a drowning man clutching at straws.For example this rally in Wisconsin is being reported by Fox.If anything one would expect Fox yo under report the size of the attendance at the rally.For example;Today the President spoke before a few thousand people.Or something similar.So this reporting is minimally accurate given the animus News Corp (Fox) has shown for President Obama and his administration
loading...
Kate
Sep. 24th, 2012 at 2:28 am
Well California is not a battleground state. I’m guessing he showed up for shiz and giggles and maybe played some Golf over on the Trump Course because really I’m not surprised…though to be fair Northern California probably would have been better for him just North of San Diego with his politics on immigration…ummm no kidding he had a low turn out. If Mitt were in Wisconsin it probably would have been better for him. I mean come on I get liberal media vs. conservative media, but even a realist can tell what’s wrong with this story.
loading...
Chris T
Sep. 25th, 2012 at 12:56 pm
On the same day Obama was in Milwaukee (18000), Rebublicans had a rally in Walworth county. Only 200 people turned out. Tommy Thompson running for senate, R. Prebius and Paul Ryan was there. That is a conservative rural county, so it was really a poor turn out on a Saturday. This is a yearly thing for them in that area. Obama’s rally was on short notice. He had some fund raising with Hank Aaron, former Milwaukee Brave before the rally.
loading...
Whaaa?
Sep. 24th, 2012 at 3:36 am
This is an absurd comparison in the story. You can’t compare people attending a private fundraiser to an outdoor rally with the general public invited. If Obama was courting rich donors at a 200 person dinner, and Romney was in California with 650, would you think it mattered that Romney had >3 times as many people at his dinner? Of course not. You shouldn’t. The only fair comparison would be if they both held public rallies in similar situations at the same time.
Don’t let our collective distaste for Fox distortions lead you into writing articles full of apples-to-oranges comparisons that tell us absolutely nothing.
loading...
kfreed
Sep. 24th, 2012 at 6:24 am
Sure you can…
The difference being: Mittens went to speak to the 1%, while Obama spoke to the 99%. Which happens to be themain take-away here.
Mathemetics teaches us that 1<99, hence the massive difference in the attendance numbers.
loading...
Richard
Sep. 24th, 2012 at 5:51 pm
You can be really cute your 1% and all, but when Obama had his fundraising event at Milwaukee Theatre that same Saturday, less than 600 attended.
http://www.nbc15.com/news/headlines/President-Obama-Arrives-in-Milwaukee-170842631.html
loading...
Chris T
Sep. 25th, 2012 at 1:00 pm
The fundrasing was on 600. A rally at the Milwaukee Summerfest grounds had 18000 people there (free). I was there! The lines were miles long and 4 people deep.
loading...
Lee in Iowa
Sep. 24th, 2012 at 5:56 am
In all fairness, R’money’s California crowd was smaller because of a huge pricetag on attending it. BUT R’money has been drawing smaller crowds in general, based on my own survey of all the pix I can find of campaign stops by both candidates. R’money only recently started holding events in open spaces, b/c he couldn’t fill up smaller, closed venues. And where R’money and Lyin’ Ryan are outdoors, I’m noticing very tight camera shots of the “crowds” (which, as a photographer, I can attest means there may be no one else out there).
A fairer comparison might be Obama’s crowd of 18,000 or more (and yes, we can tell, b/c the campaign issues tickets, which it collects at the entrances) to the 200-ish people one of R’money’s cookie-cutter sons drew in the same state.
So, yup, R’money’s circling the drain.
Personally, I’m looking forward to more of his rude tantrums emerging, esp during the DEBATES!
loading...
kfreed
Sep. 24th, 2012 at 6:20 am
Have Fox viewers figured out yet that Fox “news” is lying to them?
I’d be pissed.
loading...
Joe
Sep. 24th, 2012 at 9:46 am
I am a Republican living in California. We know better than to go out to support Romney in this state because it is overrun with Democrats. You can’t find a high ranking Republican in the governor’s office or legislature, which is why Jerry Brown has shifted right. If California collapses, there is no Republicans left to blame.
Democrats can act irresponsible if there is a Republican to blame. They did with Arnold. Just like US Congress, it is funny how Democrats say that Bush ran our economy in the ground, but don’t take any blame for Pelosi and Reid who claimed they were in charge for the end of the Bush Presidency around 2006. Obama was part of that Congress also. But, now, they had control of the Senate and House for two years and somehow they didn’t get immigration reform or barely any jobs bills. And, now everything that goes wrong, is just the Republican House’s fault. Forget that the Senate stops every jobmaking bill moving forward.
That said, Barack Obama probably got his people in Wisconsin to pull people for this press release. And, if Obama does win, the joke is on the American people. What he has done has gotten us further into debt with no hope of getting us out . Plus, more people are losing their jobs and everyone is afraid to spend money because they might have to live off their savings, like myself. Obama has also failed on foreign policy. Do you really think those people that killed the ambassador didn’t plane it when they had rocket launchers with them and the President of Libya said his intelligence indicated that it was premeditated? This administration is a joke. We deserve better!
loading...
Kirk S
Sep. 25th, 2012 at 12:00 pm
Typical low information fox viewer BS. To call Obama a failure on foreign policy is the height of stupidity. Is Bin Laden better off than he was 4 yrs ago? I think not. Are we out of Iraq? Are we getting out of Afghanistan? Because some of our diplomats got killed in a highly volatile region that just went thru a civil war does not mean failure. Get real…
loading...
Ingrid Buxton
Sep. 24th, 2012 at 11:11 am
My husband went to this rally with a neighbor who worked on putting up the stage the day before. It was miserable cold and raining and anybody knows Summerfest grounds knows the wind blows off the lake making it even colder. And yes, there was a fabulous rainbow towards the end. No doubt about it, the place was packed!
loading...
coax31
Sep. 24th, 2012 at 2:54 pm
It was not in the Marcus Amphitheater it was in the
BMO Harris Pavilion 5000 seat capacity moron!! FBO
loading...
Lee K
Sep. 25th, 2012 at 9:21 am
I was there for the Obama rally, and just for your information, I actually work at the BMO stage for the 11 days of Summerfest.
The BMO stage at the Milwaukee Summerfest Grounds has a permanent seating bowl of 5000, just the seating. There is also standing room surrounding the seating area for another 5000, however, extra large bleachers behind the standing room were setup for the event with every bleacher jam packed, plus, there were 2 jumbo-trons setup behind all that far away from the stage itself where one couldnt see the stage behind the standing room area and bleachers, all filled to the max, you could hardly move, plus there were huge crowds standing atop the the permanent bars in the hospitality areas and on the roof support anchors surrounding the seating area, and crowds of people up the side of the hill going up toward the Marcus Amphitheater. I never saw that many people in that whole area before. In other words, there were every bit of the 18000 people they said there were, and probably more.
loading...
Larry Cooper
Sep. 26th, 2012 at 9:52 am
Obama will get my vote this time around for sure!
loading...