McCain's Crowd Disturbingly Small, Ten Times Less Than Planned For

Something was missing from the first of John McCain's seven campaign stops today: the crowd.

Kicking off the last day of the election in Tampa, Florida, John McCain was welcomed by a roughly 1,000 voters. Compare that to the 15,000 people that President Bush drew to a rally in Tampa on the eve of the 2004 election. "What's up with that?" wrote Adam Smith at the St. Petersburg Times.

Even Fox News had a bit of difficulty spinning the whole thing. Carl Cameron, who is following the Senator at every stop on Monday, said the crowd size was likely "a little bit disturbing" for the McCain campaign. He added that organizers had set up the venue predicting ten times the number of attendees.

"Last night in Miami Sen. McCain arrived for a midnight rally and had more than 10,000 people in Miami. Today in Tampa, for a morning event, it's a small crowd, only about 1,000. And I can tell you is it looks like it was set up with the perimeter and all for about 10 times this crowd. In addition, you'll note that there are no actual McCain signs here. This is one of the events that is put on, ostensibly paid for by the Republican Party."

Later in his segment, Cameron tried to explain the empty venue as a byproduct of volunteers being dispatched for get-out-the-vote activities. But he couldn't hide the fact that the Tampa kick-off wasn't the best start for a long day.

"They believe that their 72-hour get-out-the-vote exercise will make the difference," he said. "That is one of the reasons why the size of this crowd is a little bit disturbing for the McCain campaign."

UPDATE: Off the Bus has some other good reporting on the small crowds at McCain events.

PREVIOUSLY: McCain Camp Buses In 4,000 School Kids To Fill Crowd

Comments

[YankeeYahoo]

05:33 PM on 11/05/2008

The same thing happened here in the Hampton Roads area. Obama's two latest visits drew crowds of 20,000 - 25,000 each time, while McCain drew only around 1,000 .... that is why I am so surprised as to how close the "count" was. Hmmmm ...

[soonerdem]

02:32 PM on 11/05/2008

Take heart GOP,you have 2012 to look forward to.May I sugest your ticket consist of those two mental dwarfs Sarah Palin with Dan Quayle.I can't spell Dan's last name but he couldn't spell tater.Joki­ng aside,I am happier than I ever dreamed.Af­ter 8 years of W and his cohorts.Am­erica has found it's soul again.

[kid5rivers2]

08:00 AM on 11/04/2008

"McCain's Crowd Disturbing­ly Small, Ten Times Less Than Planned For" is incorrect.

The correct?
"McCain's Crowd Disturbing­ly Small: One-Tenth What Was Planned For"

[ayupanqui]

07:44 AM on 11/04/2008

Many of you Americans have got it all wrong. Thousands worldwide support Obama , not because they believe that as President,­he would be more likely than his opponent to kowtow to the world outside of the USA; precisely the opposite. For most of us, The United States, warts and all, represents ideals of Liberty, Freedom and Justice ,which historical­ly have transcende­d party boundaries­, and which are noticeably absent from the palette of the leaders of other countries competing for twenty-fir­st century world influence .

We tried to gauge the true worth of Obama and Mccain as leaders who will exert a huge influence on a world badly in need of the baseline morality which we expect of the United States. It soon became obvious that that leadership should be entrusted to Obama; McCain''s choice of the rather sad Sarah Palin was the final straw as, desperate, he ignored the basic qualities and abilities which Vice Presidenti­al candidates must bring to the post. So much for "Country First" ! We listened in bewilderme­nt as McCain stated that he would lose if he continued to discuss with the American people, solutions to the huge, pressing economic problems , and we listened with incredulit­y as he focused instead on someone called "Joe the Plumber".

We trust the majority of the American people; we believe that your desire to return your great country to higher moral grounds will triumph over McCain 's pettiness and cynical betrayal of her great ideals.

jeffrey cobham

[sonnysj76]

01:36 AM on 11/04/2008

What time was he making those campaign stops? If he did it way early in the morning, I kinda understand­. You know, senior citizen still in bed ?

[FZliveson]

01:18 AM on 11/04/2008

Censored again for questionin­g headline makers.

[MadJeffersonian]

12:09 AM on 11/04/2008

Nobody wants to see Mr. Burns! Was Smithers (Lindsey Graham) there?

[InspiredbyObama]

02:00 AM on 11/04/2008

Tee hee!

[devans00]

11:48 PM on 11/03/2008

Sad Grampa indeed.

[Seldomright]

11:07 PM on 11/03/2008

Not only was the crowd small but there was damn little enthusiasm from the people who showed up. It reminded me of the White House staff waving good-bye to Nixon as he walked to the helicopter after he resigned in 1974. Of course, compared to the campaign McCain has waged, Nixon was an honorable man.

[imsosure]

10:32 PM on 11/03/2008

Disturbing would be the correct word if you thought he was suppose to be popular and win this race. Under the circumstan­ces it may be respectabl­e crowd since some people did show up. Now we only have just a few more hours an McCain can have his pity party and get back to work in the Senate assuming he has the nerve to show his face.

[forthepeople1]

10:08 PM on 11/03/2008

How about zero crowd, with just a few pieces of paper blowing in the wind? I want him gone, back to AZ permanentl­y, and Silly Six Pack Palin gone as well, permanentl­y! We are sooooooooo­oooooooo
sick of them both!

[TXfemmom]

09:52 PM on 11/03/2008

McCain should see the handwritin­g on the wall. His team was probably telling him that Obama had sent out announceme­nts which said the event was to happen at noon.

[goodnessgracious1234]

09:48 PM on 11/03/2008

All the folks in Miama (at midnight) were perhaps a little drunk and thought that they were going to an Obama rally. Oh c'mon, you know that's what happened.

Is McCain going to start bussing in poor helpless school kids again to fill his crowds?

[DumbDad]

09:42 PM on 11/03/2008

It would be just like God to end the world tomorrow morning before the vote's counted

[cmdebbie]

09:25 PM on 11/03/2008

I hate to disappoint all of you Demorats, but all of McCain's supporters have JOBS and had to be at work! That is something that a majority of your party knows nothing about!!!

I was at a Sarah Palin rally on Saturday, and can tell you that the support is there!!!!!­!!!!!

[DumbDad]

09:39 PM on 11/03/2008

if you could be one of us for just one Saturday night...

[gratonite]

09:40 PM on 11/03/2008

Now Debbie, you know that's not true. In fact we have better jobs, we are the liberal elite after all.