Minus Sarah Palin, John McCain's Florida crowd underwhelms

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Gee, what a tough choice.

Would you rather see and also hear four old white guys talk about the day's financial turmoil?

Or would you rather stay at home in the air conditioning and maybe catch the Alaskan pit bull on TV talking about anything else?

Left on his own to campaign in Jacksonville, Fla., today, Sen. John McCain's Republican advance team let him down by forgetting one of the primary rules of politics in the TV era:

Better to overflow a small venue and keep thousands from getting in, than let thousands into a larger place but still have empty seats.

McCain, campaigning alone since Gov. Sarah Palin went home to Alaska to see her son, Track, off to Army duty in Iraq, gamely moved a campaign rally originally planned for a small venue into the 15,000-seat Veterans Memorial Arena downtown.

Not good.

When McCain and Palin campaigned together in the days immediately following the Republican convention, the duo regularly drew more than 10,000 people to their rallies (even allowing for some crowd inflation by the campaign).

But Monday, McCain could have been forgiven for feeling a little abandoned.

He was accompanied by Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and Republican Sen. Mel Martinez, as well as several other current and former politicians, including Jack Kemp, Bob Dole’s 1996 VP running mate on the GOP ticket that Bill Clinton crushed. Not even a lot of lipstick would perk up these attractions.

So no more than 3,500 supporters filled a few sections of the cavernous, dark arena for the Jacksonville rally. Not good at all for the pictures.

And as McCain entered with his wife, Cindy, the crowd was in the midst of chanting responsively “Sarah” and “Palin.” She was far away in Colorado and probably couldn't hear.

McCain is scheduled to be reunited again with his running mate Tuesday in Ohio.

Can't come too soon for the McCain crowd-counters.

-- Noam Levey

Comments

[dave]

Palin attracted about 1000 supporters for her alaska speech on the 13th. but more than 1500 were protesting against her.

[riley]

how pathetic mccain is nothing without palin, wait he is something a LIAR!

[Sally]

Obama has a Plan for America.

McCain has Palin for America.

[Mike]

I live in Jax and thought about going to see McCain. But I figured that (a) it would be insanely overcrowded and (b) as a result I'd have to get up ridiculously early and spend hours waiting for him.

Part of the problem was logistical: I got an email suggesting that maybe I should be there by 6 AM, three hours before McCain spoke. Who needs that? Yuck!

[VJ Machiavelli]

Yes, Sarah the "New Republican Terminator" is cutting up a storm where every she goes.

BTW McCain is only down 5 points in Blue New York State.

I bet McCain is close to the "APPEASEMENT KID" IN CALIFORNIA. I will go on the record and say McCain will carry California I am already on record that he will carry NY.

VJ Machiavelli
http://www.vjmachiavelli.blogspot.com

[Mike]

I here The One isn't pulling them in as he used to. He started busing them in Colorado from all over the place. Will the Dems. loves and are at busing.

[Scott]

Obama's charisma is fading as we learn more about him and his political background. On the hand, McCain is gaining momentum. The polls appear to be showing that people are excited about the combination of McCain and Palin and feel that they will actually bring about the changes this country needs.

[M.E. Douglas]

It was more like 5,000 in attendance. They moved the event from a 90+ degree, lawn chair seated, port-a-potty-ed,fairground on the river into a large, orderly, air-conditioned space with stadium seating and concessions. For a 9am Monday morning event in downtown blue collar Jacksonville, and considering Jacksonville has had fewer people show up to an NFL game, it was an OUTSTANDING turnout.
And the Dems know it.
They announced yesterday afternoon, quite ominously, that Obama will be here this Saturday. No details, no venue, no time set...it felt more like a hurricane warning.

Say informed things. And don't be sheep.

arehttp://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=50824

[Resa Marie]

This is the worst reporting I have ever read.

The location for the campaign was downtown and many people could not go that far in rush hour traffic to attend. Everyone I speak to, including some Dems, said they wanted to go. I was there about 7:25 am and it was not too bad.

It was exciting and exhilarating. I sat next to a Veteran; he was a remarkable man who served our country.

I went early and it was a blasting and pleasant crowd. Unlike the rude people here as well as Noam Levey. I am voting for classy people like Sen. MCCAIN AND Gov. PALIN.

OH, I loved the sign that read:
READ MY LIPSTICK... VOTE FOR MCCAIN & PALIN !!!!

It is so sad that people are so nasty. I wish some would mature.

[Carrie Poulter]

You people will believe everything you read from the liberal media. I am including a link from our local news, I live in Jax, Florida:

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Republican Presidential candidate Sen. John McCain was campaigning in Jacksonville early this morning.

What was originally supposed to be a pancake breakfast quickly outgrew its intended home at the Fairgrounds and was moved into the much larger Veterans Memorial Arena across the street.

His wife Cindy introduced Senator McCain to an enthusiastic crowd of about 5,000, and the Senator spoke for about half an hour.

McCain touched on the usual subjects for Republicans -- the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, government spending -- and also spoke about an issue on a lot of people's minds these days: the troubled financial markets. Play the video on the right to hear a bit of what he had to say.

After he left Jacksonville, Senator McCain headed to Orlando for another campaign stop in the crucial state of Florida.

©2008 First Coast News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, rewritten, or redistributed."

I know this article to be true because I was there.

[H.A. Sheroff]

Florida: 4th largest state in the union, 27 electoral votes. Mr. McCain stops in South Florida for a couple of hours, only to drum up money at a fancy fundraiser here, but the millions of people who live and vote here aren't good enough to speak to (you know, campaining)? Thank you sir, we in South Florida get the message.

[JJ Jones]

Obama was in Jacksonville yesterday and has 20k+ show up. McCain was barely 3k. The local media inflated that number.

[Kacey Roache]

JJ Jones,

You are forgetting to mention that Obama's rally was held midday on Saturday. Pretty easy to attend midday on a Saturday. McCain came to town on a Monday morning and the doors opened to the public at 6:00am. Not so easy for people with children or people that had to be at work. This explains the radical difference in numbers. But being an Obama supoorter, as clearly you are, I am not surprised your forgot to mention these facts.

[J Milam]

Oh, how surprising. An LATimes blogger is not rooting for McCain/Palin. When the Jacksonville votes come in November 4th as a majority for McCain you'll still have your nice cuddly "but no one showed for his speech on an early Monday morning" blanket to cry in. Enjoy it.

[White male voter in Jacksonville]

There were not 5,000 at McCain's rally. 3,000 to 3,500 is maybe even a reach. Strange thing is they announced they expected 8,000-9,000 attendees and that is why they were moving it to the Veterans Arena. Contrast that with the Obama rally in Jacksonville. !2,000 people crammed into Metropolitan Park with another 8,000 left outside the gates which the police closed at 2 PM because the park's capacity of 10k had been exceeded. By they way, the 20k total figure was a police estimate. The Jacksonville Fraternal Order of Police has endorsed McCain so you know the police department will not inflate Obama's attendance figures. Friends of mine who attended Obama's rally agreed with my estimate that about 40-45% of the crowd was white with the remainder black and brown. What would you guess was the racial mix of McCain's crowd? Highly likely it was like the crowd at the Republican National Convention where the cameras kept going back to the 3-4 faces of color they could locate.

[Susan Oyola]

What is going on!!! We have a Woman's group with the word woman (NOW) in their title and they are backing a man for a position that a woman is fighting for. I thought it was for woman, not black men. And then we have the New York times talking about Cindy McCains PRESCRIPTION medicine addiction, when Barack Obama admitted to buying and taking ILLEGAL drugs!!!! Is anyone really listening?