Opinion: Minus Sarah Palin, John McCain’s Florida crowd underwhelms

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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