Monday, October 20, 2008
Who Draws Better Crowds?
by Garret A. Hobart
The media swoons over the junior Senator from Illinois. They marvel at the crowds that he draws as if he were handing out fishes and loaves, but truth be known, Governor Palin draws bigger crowds. See our MFP Truth Squad analysis below.
THE QUESTION: Who’s drawing the better crowds out on the campaign trail, Barack Obama or Sarah Palin?
OK, HERE ARE THE FACTS:
3% of St. Louis turns out for Obama
Sen. Obama recently drew a crowd estimated at 75,000 to 100,000 people in St. Louis, Missouri. Impressive? Well, maybe. You see, the population of St. Louis is 2,866,517, so if Obama drew 87,500 people (splitting the difference between the 75,000 and 100,000 estimates) so, a mere 3.04% of the population of St. Louis showed up to see Sen. Obama.
79% of six small cities turn out for Palin
Gov. Sarah Palin recently drew crowds totaling 131,500 in six small cities with a total aggregate population of 165,462 people. So, 79.47% of the population of these six small cities showed up to see Gov. Palin.
To put it another way, even though St. Louis has 2,801,045 more people than these six cities combined, Palin still drew 131,500 people to Obama’s approximately 87,500.
Here’s the recent rundown on how Sarah Palin’s doin’ out on the campaign trail:
Gov. Palin yesterday, October 19, 2008, drew 20,000 in Roswell, New Mexico, Population 45,329. Other estimates of he Roswell crowd ranged from 10,000 to 15,000(the day before Sen. Biden had drawn only “several hundred” people in Las Cruces, NM, population 89,732). [See “Palin Beats Biden in the duel in the desert” on this website, an exclusive, a first-hand report from a college student who attended Governor Palin’s Roswell, NM rally and was near the front row of the estimated 20,000 who attended]
Gov. Palin drew 24,000 in Noblesville, Indiana, population 38,825.
Gov. Palin drew 6,500 to an airplane hangar Bangor, Maine, population 31,473.
Gov. Palin drew 10,000 in Salem, New Hampshire. population 29,580, the same day that Sen. Obama himself was in the same state in Londonderry, NH population 23,236 and only drew a little over 4,000.
Gov. Palin drew 11,000 in Wilmington, Ohio, population 11,922
Gov. Palin drew 60,000 in The Villages, Florida, Population 8,333
THE VERDICT: Governor Palin wins, hands down, by a score of Palin 79 to Obama 3! (Of course, some of these small cities may have more population in the surrounding areas, but most do not. For example, in Roswell, NM, the city of 45,000 is surrounded by a couple of hundred miles of desert in every direction). In state after state, city after city, again and again, the pattern is consistent: when Gov. Palin goes into a small city, virtually the entire city shuts down, as 79% of the people come out to see her. Meanwhile, only 3% of St. Louis came out for the Obama rally.
