President Obama is really hoping he is as successful at drawing a big crowd next week, as he has been at drawing small ones all year. Let’s not forget, by the campaign’s own admission, smaller gatherings are apparently preferable to bigger ones.
Two weeks ago, an Obama campaign official had this to say about those unwieldy big crowds:
“We have plenty of time for big rallies,” Psaki said earnestly. “Our focus right now is on exciting our supporters and winning over undecided voters and the smaller and medium-size events are the best venue to accomplish that because the president can closely engage with the crowd.”
Right. Whether or not you believe this bizarre explanation for Obama’s waning support and voter enthusiasm, it appears they’ve scrapped the so-called “tiny crowd strategy,” and are hoping to revive some of that Obama-mania from 2008. Via The Hill
For weeks, Democrats have been concerned about filling Bank of America Stadium, home to the NFL’s Carolina Panthers. They feared a devastating image of an enthusiasm gap if Obama spoke to empty upper decks at the venue.But the Obama campaign says it’s got it covered, and that all 73,778 of the stadium’s seats will be spoken for. The campaign also insists this success will showcase a ground operation that will help Obama win North Carolina for a second cycle in a row this November.“We’re confident we’ll be full,” Jen Psaki, the traveling Obama press secretary, told The Hill late last week. “We have a great ground operation in North Carolina and we’ve registered more voters than any other state.”
Now that its officially game time for the Democrats, they’re faced with a significant issue: How do you sell out an NFL stadium hosting a President who has failed the American people in his first term?
Thankfully, the Obama campaign has worked around the issue. An e-mail sent Thursday night to the DeKalb County, GA Democratic party enlightens us to their strategy. Below is an excerpt from the e-mail. [Emphasis mine]
Everyone who is at Manuel’s Tavern or the Bibb County Democratic Party by noon is eligible for two tickets. Arrive early if you want, but it won’t give you a better chance to win. Just be there by 12 noon!If less than 50 people arrive, everyone will get a pair! If more than 50 folks arrive, we will do a random drawing to determine our winners.There is no cost involved. We’re not selling the tickets, we’re giving them away.Since we’re not selling tickets, you can’t sell them either! If you sell your tickets to someone else, they will be deactivated.For planning purposes, we expect that President Obama will speak at 8pm on Thursday. To insure that you are in your seat for the speech, you should arrive at the stadium that afternoon. There will be strict security at the event.Your trip to Charlotte to see the President’s historic speech begins tomorrow.
Considering that tickets are literally being given away to see the President “historic speech,” the question we should be asking ourselves isn’t whether Obama can fill the stadium. Rather, what does it say about the state of his campaign if he doesn’t?
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