(source: AP)- Crowd Size: 15,000
- Individuals Behind Obama in TV Close-Up: Diverse group of energetic voters.
- Enthusiasm: Absolutely ecstatic (A friend of mine attended the rally and waited 6 hours in line to get in; he stood at the very front and met Obama afterward.)
(source: Fox News)
- Crowd Size: Unknown (event was in a ballroom of a Virginia hotel--could not be more than 1500)
- Individuals Behind McCain in TV Close-Up: Group of white old politicians (almost all men)
- Enthusiasm: Very minimal
On both of these fronts, Obama absolutely demolished McCain. (1) The Obama crowd screamed so loud that it drowned out Obama occasionally. However, the McCain crowd appeared reticent to even clap. (2) The McCain rally showed a bunch of old white male politicians surrounding the candidate while the Obama rally showed a diverse group of enthusiastic voters.
In short, there is a tremendous persuasion gap between the two candidates. Senator Obama is drawing absolutely breathtaking crowds (both in size and enthusiasm) while Senator McCain is drawing small and less enthusiastic crowds. A very close friend of mine attended a McCain rally in Grand Rapids, MI in early January and said that many of the attendees appeared to have been under-age kids from schools "bussed in" for TV (my friend postulated that the McCain campaign asked teachers to have high school kids come out for a field trip). In contrast, my friend who attended the Obama rally in Wisconsin on February 12 said he and countless others waited 6 hours in line and the whole arena (a large sports complex) was packed.
Consider the following photos, which further show the immense disparity.
(source: NY Times Article)
(source: AP)
One other note: Mr. McCain knew that TV networks would rather cover Mr. Obama's speech than his own speech so, as the NYT reports, "Senator John McCain waited in a hotel back room for Mr. Obama to finish his speech before Mr. McCain greeted supporters at his victory party in Alexandria, Va." (source).
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