20,000 people came to see Bernie Sanders in Boston. Why aren’t we talking more about it?

[magical thyme]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/10/05/20000-people-came-to-see-bernie-sanders-in-boston-this-weekend-why-arent-we-talking-more-about-it/

I'll skip to the money quote at the end.


What I think we know is that massive crowds at a political rally are a decent metric for organic passion. And organic passion is the most important and valuable commodity in politics. The fact that Sanders was able to put 20,000 Boston butts in seats matters in a race that has been defined to date by the lack of energy for Clinton's frontrunning candidacy.

I'm not saying that Sanders's ability to pack the Boston Convention Center means he will be the Democratic nominee in 2016. But it does tell us that something is going on out in the country. Something we should be paying more, not less, attention to.

[bunnies]

1. Wasnt it more like 30k?

[magical thyme]

2. 24K total. 20k in the convention center, 4k in the overflow watching on a big screen. nt

[bunnies]

3. eh. Means nothing.

[Fawke Em]

12. And another 6,000 in Springfield, MA earlier that day = 30,000

He also stopped by the Massachusetts Education Association in between and they apparently didn't agree with the NEA's endorsement of that other candidate.

I don't have the link handy, but The Ed Show reported that gem today.

[magical thyme]

15. ayup! forgot about Springfield, MA...

[moobu2]

4. Why would they?

Big crowds aren't that difficult to assemble and manipulate by a crafty politician. It has nothing to do with them being a good candidate, or not, and most people know that so it isn't news when one of them uses crowd manipulation techniques like Bernie Sanders does.

[magical thyme]

5. ...

like they weren't big news all summer. Not to mention back when Obama was drawing what were record-breaking at the time...

Try reading the article. Seriously...

[wendylaroux]

10. oh come on!! lol

admit that this is a big deal,

did you think it was a big deal when Pres. Obama did it?--(Bernie had more}

I did,and I do now.

[Motown_Johnny]

11. So you are saying that Hillary is not a crafty politician?

[bkkyosemite]

37. "manipulate by a crafty politician"

big difference between crafty and truthful.

[Hissyspit]

41. Jeez...

Rationalization.

[stillwaiting]

44. All I know is that to me You look like you're having fun...

[beam me up scottie]

53. Crafty politician said what?

[moobu2]

57. So stand with the real Democratic front runner then

Together we will win. Bernie Sanders will never be potus though so supporting him is a waste of time and energy.

[beam me up scottie]

58. No thanks, I'll stand with the liberal - Bernie, Hillary is too conservative for me.

[MADem]

6. It was a college crowd on a date night, to no small extent.

The event was within subway and walking distance of dozens of colleges and universities, to include a few (Northeastern, Boston University, e.g.) that are huge.

One of my college-aged and attending family members went to the event, with a dozen or so friends (many of whom aren't US citizens). It was a 'happening,' and it was free.

They weren't all voting "Boston butts," necessarily.

[Fawke Em]

13. Even if 10,000 of them weren't voting "Boston butts," the other 20,000

were (including overflow and Springfield to equal 30,000).

[MADem]

45. The papers are reporting that the overwhelming majority of that crowd was "college students and

millenials."

What's wrong with that being the case? I think that's the crowd he was going for. That's why he spent more time than usual on the affordable/free college piece of his stump speech.

You don't go after Joe and Jane Lunchbox at six PM on a Saturday. They've got kids and shit to do, and they work all week and go home--usually in a neighborhood far from the center of the city, because the only way you can afford to live there is if you are rich or living in one of the many new dorms that the colleges/unis have built in recent years (the Mayor wants to make dorm residency mandatory, and the colleges are making this happen--Northeastern and Wentworth and several others are on this track). You hit them up at midday, on their lunch hour, in an open venue like the Common or City Hall Plaza, near their job.

He was honing a platform plank, and he picked the right crowd to do it.

[Fawke Em]

49. You don't think I'm Jane Lunchbox?

How sweet!

[Motown_Johnny]

14. So college kids take their dates to Bernie Sanders rallies?

Wow, you must be a ton of fun on a date.



I guess that same reasoning would hold true for Hillary's Broward College rally. Unless of course Bernie rallies are a "happening" and Hillary's rallies are something else entirely.

She pulled ~5% of the crowd that Bernie did. I think it is safe to assume that not all of them were "voting butts" either.

[MADem]

27. I'm just repeating what a college kid, in his junior year, who was there, told me.

He and his friends took their dates to that thing.

Are you seriously telling me that you wouldn't go to that rally if you were in college and your dorm was blocks or a couple of subway stops from the event?

I am way past my college years, but I went on "cheap dates" in my poverty years in school--nothing wrong with it, and people don't generally go to something SOLELY for that reason, but it can influence a decision, certainly. If I were a kid in college today, I'd go see Clinton, I'd go see Sanders, I'd go see Jeb! and I'd most definitely go see the Freak Show That Is Trump.

Anti-war protests were a popular date in my younger years. You could have a great time for the cost of a pizza and a beer. No need to get tetchy and personal with me, and snark about how much "fun" I would be on a date--I promise I'll never ask you out so you won't have to uncomfortably refuse -- feel better, now?


Are there a hundred colleges and universities, and hundreds of thousands of college and graduate students in Broward County within walking/subway distance of Broward College? Who KNEW?

[Aerows]

61. Well I, for one,

think it is great that going to a political event is deemed "date" material. The more people that we have engaged in the political process, the better.

I won't say that I am displeased that the date took place at a Bernie event. It doesn't guarantee votes, but it certainly does show that our young people are engaged in the political process.

I like that a LOT!

[beam me up scottie]

29. LMAO!

[Scootaloo]

16. "Obama only got those crowds because the Septemberists were playing!"

Remember that?

[TheKentuckian]

24. Conservatives draw their water from the same foul well regardless of party.

[MADem]

34. I didn't make the claim that he "only" got the crowds because... but look at the photos of those

in attendance. It's obvious that he took a huge portion of that crowd from BU, Northeastern, MIT, Harvard, and the Wentworth/Simmons/Emmanuel/MCA/MCP/Emerson , etc., etc., smaller colleges--these are the kids who are out and about on a weekend evening.

And that is how the newspapers covered it, too. Don't shoot the messenger.

The colleges were instrumental in organizing/gathering RSVPs for the event, as well--look at the "College Democrats" fb webpages for all the schools and they funnel people to the event page:

https://www.facebook.com/events/902560193147764/

It's also probably not an accident that he spent a fair amount of time talking about free college, either. He knew who was going to be in attendance.

It seems like Boston-area college students are “feeling the Bern.”

At a packed Boston rally on Saturday, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders spoke boldly about issues including wealth and income inequality, and free tuition at public colleges to an enthusiastic, overflowing crowd filled with college students and Millennials.

[Fumesucker]

21. The implications of a Sanders rally being a significant college date event are eye opening

Imagine it was a couple's first date, they went to the Sanders rally, forty years later as they are playing with their grandchildren they recall being there when the course of American history took a sharp left turn.

What an awesome memory to have, sort of like Woodstock without the drugs, mud and music.

[MADem]

25. ..... sort of like Woodstock without the drugs, mud and music.

Heh heh--everyone I have met who was at Woodstock says that half the fun was the drugs and mud...!!

ODDBALL fact--the couple that graced the Woodstock album cover? They're still together!!


http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/daily-noise/6670438/woodstock-lp-cover-couple-together-46-years

[arcane1]

33. Do all free events in that area draw 20,000 people?

[MADem]

39. Some draw WAY more. It just depends on the event.

First Night can bring in a million or more.

Hundreds of thousands attend the annual fireworks display at the Hatch Shell.

When they do the Duck Boat parades for winning athletic teams, millions can turn out for those, as well--and they come from all over. They run buses up from Braintree for the people living on the south shore, and they'll sometimes put on extra trains. People stand for hours waiting to wave at those guys for a minute or two--makes no sense.

Saint Patrick's Day is a real draw in Southie, too-- they can count on a million people, easily.

400K turned out for the 2014 Gay Pride parade.

The Boston Marathon is a real crowd draw, too--packs 'em in, not just at the finish line but all along the route.

Sanders was aiming at college kids--it's obvious. He picked a weekend night, when the weather was still decent, in a venue where you can't throw a rock and NOT hit a college. All of the reporting supports this, too. Why are (just) a few people acting like it's a crime to mention that he's targeting the youth vote at this particular event? smh!

If he wanted a more mixed crowd, he would have gone for something like a rally on the Common at midday--get the working stiffs, the brown bag bunch, from the Hill, City Hall, the financial district, etc. Those people get on the train on Friday afternoon and go to the more affordable 'burbs (only rich people and college kids in what are increasingly becomeing mandatory-residence dorms can afford to live in many neighborhoods in Boston, these days--even 'the Dot' --Dorchester--is getting pricey) and don't come back until Monday.

[artislife]

51. wow...those are different from my college date nights

I guess there isn't much to do in that little town called Boston.

[MADem]

73. Those kids look like they are having a great time.

There's plenty to do in Beantown--and an hour and a half event that starts at six pm and ended on time wasn't going to muck up the evening.

Not socially conscious in college? You were an exception to the rule.

[mhatrw]

71. You will say anything to diminish the fact that people do not want

business as usual.

[MADem]

72. How very weird that you would confuse a demographic fact, reported in newspapers, with

"diminishment."

I just don't understand that at all.

He wasn't at a senior citizens convention. He was in Boston on a Saturday night--when all the hundreds of thousands of college and graduate students hit the streets. The majority of that crowd came from the colleges and universities in the city and across the river in Cambridge.

[sadoldgirl]

7. By now we may only see the attention

of the media going to Bernie, if his rally attendance drops
by 80%. And that ain't going to happen.

[riversedge]

8. How much more do you want? Several treads over last several days already.

[magical thyme]

19. the rally was 2 days ago, not several days. and this article had a slightly different take which I

think is important.

[slipslidingaway]

23. This article is from today, unlike the NRA article from July that has been posted before. n/t

[Autumn]

35. Well this article has been posted several times, tand here it is again today

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=thread&address=1251649034&info=1#recs

[frylock]

48. I don't think the WaPo article meant talk about it on the DU.

[ruffburr]

9. The Status Quo-

Is doing everything in thier power to marginalize Bernie Sanders, Be it MSM or third way dems or the mainstream Dems, not to mention the Corporations and Republicans,They do not give a damn about the will of the People nor the good of the country and Planet as long as their Gravy Train of back room deals and war profiteering is continuing to line their pockets, Bernie would put a wrench in their game, So anything they can do to stop a man of the people they will do, I'm afraid that we are just seeing the beginings of how low they will go.

[FlatBaroque]

17. I'll just let you know right now

that according to a very prominent DUer who now spreads her wisdom at another web site "the problem with big crowds is that you only hear yourself". I think this must be why Hillary eschews large crowds, opting instead for intimate dinners.

[magical thyme]

20. meh. Bernie does small things too. but the big crowds bring lots of volunteers and donors

and the media, which is something you need when you aren't charging $2700 for dinner with the former 1st lady/senator/SOS.

[no_hypocrisy]

18. Mainstream media will be surprIsed

when Bernie wins next year b/c they haven't been reporting him.

[upaloopa]

22. Because I don't care.

Most people don't care

[slipslidingaway]

26. Obviously, many people do care. n/t

[litlbilly]

28. The Hillary butthurt is getting even hurtier:)

[slipslidingaway]

36. Yes, but she does have the corporate money and media on her side, although ...

Sanders dominates on the issues that relate to many people.

It will be interesting and I am siding with the people's candidate.

[upaloopa]

43. The people's candidate!

You mean some of the people, like 25% of them

[slipslidingaway]

47. Yes, the people who donated over 20 million and showed up to support his ideas at FREE events ...

all Those people!

[Stardust]

67. Lol! That the funniest post I've read in a long time.

But I have a feeling it would have been funny no matter whose name was inserted in it. Butthurt cracks me up every time! No pun intended (I think.)

[frylock]

30. It's obvious that grassroots enthusiasm is something you can't get excited about..

you're more into product rollout.

[upaloopa]

42. I also don't care what you think

[Snotcicles]

46. Aww, now that was not very nice. nt

[MADem]

50. People do get excited--it doesn't always translate into votes on election day, though.

This event was free, and he got a great turnout on a weekend night when there's no classes the next day.

But keep in mind, that back in 2000, Ralph Nader managed to get 12000 people in Boston to PAY TEN BUCKS to see him on a SUNDAY night at the start of OCT.....

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines/100200-02.htm

The Green Party presidential nominee, who will not be allowed onstage with Vice President Al Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush at tomorrow night's presidential debate, got a rock star's reception from a crowd of 12,000 at the FleetCenter. That's bigger than either major party candidate usually attracts.

The huge arena, the thousands of devotees, the ticker-tape raining down from the ceiling, the giant flashing screens leading the audience in loud chants of ''Let Ralph debate!'' - all of this was decidedly un-Nader-like. More often, the longtime consumer advocate plays to crowds in the tens, with simpler - in fact, no - production values, and, much to his chagrin, far from the television cameras.

But yesterday, Nader's condemnations of corporate greed, the current electoral system, the two major parties, Washington's handling of the environment, and inequality all raised deafening cheers from this audience. Talk of his exclusion from the debates drew the most passionate responses from the crowd, most of whom had paid $10 to attend.

FWIW, the "Fleet Center" is what is now known as the TD Garden (the Boston Garden). It's co-located with North Station and a hop-skip-jump from the subway. Easy to get to...

[artislife]

52. Easy to get to

I would expect bars are close by, too.


And what about those "kids" waiting in the Fall cold to watch on the large screen? Were they the cheap dates that got a burrito from 7-11 and said that they would take their date to a outdoor movie in the park?

This just makes me laugh. How long ago were you college age?

[MADem]

55. Not all that many near the former Fleet Center--aka Garden. They want people to grab a bite and go

home. You can walk to the North End from the Garden. It's right by the Zakim Bridge (the highway-93).

But that's not where Sanders was speaking. He was over on Summer Street, not far from the (but not THE) World Trade Center complex. It's on a new subway/bus transit line. Easy to get in and out. That is kind of a high end neighborhood for college kids.

It was damp but not very cold the night Sanders spoke. Also, I'll wager a lot (not all, but many) of those college students weren't 21, which is the drinking age, and yes, the bars do card pretty vigorously.

Where are you getting this burrito and outdoor movie ramble? I realize you are trying like hell to snark at me, but I'm not getting the point you're obviously trying so hard to drive home.

The students--and most of them were students--who were going to that event knew that they were going to see Sanders. No one was being duped (if that's what you are trying to suggest..???) . The Brazilians (a pile of 'em) and Taiwanese and Canadian that went w/my family member knew what the agenda was--they were interested to have a look at American politics. The event wasn't that long, though, and the night was young after it was over...what, you think everyone who attended that thing toddled back to the dorms and said Nighty night? Of course not--they probably went to Kenmore Square or some of the places on Comm Ave or Beacon Street. Or if they were coming from Cambridge, there are lots of places over that way--Kendall Square, Central Square, etc.

I was going to anti-war rallies when I was in college, but I've got family in three schools in the Boston-Cambridge area.

Yes, I am old. Anyone under forty is a "kid" to me, FWIW.

[artislife]

56. I am saying that the choice to go out for a date on Saturday

for most young people is to have a good time. Unless they are motivated by politics, then the option to go to a standing room only or outdoor standing event is not high on the list. Unless one is motivated by politics.

And I already knew the answer to the question I asked.

[MADem]

65. Are you kidding? That kind of event IS a "good time." It's like the start of an

evening and it's where "everyone" is gonna be. Go to the rally, see all the other people from other schools ALSO going to the rally, do a little flirting and chatting, find out where the good parties are going to be happening, listen to the speeches, then off to get something to eat and hit a bar or a club if you're old enough, or a campus party if you're not. That rally was OVER before a lot of people might head out for a serious evening of fun. The rally started on time at six o'clock, and ended less than two hours later.

The bulk of the people who went to that event managed to get inside, and the early birds got seats. Kids WILL stand--I can remember standing through concerts that lasted hours in my youth (you couldn't pay me to do that today).

And the way kids "date" today isn't really like the old days. There's none of that picking up the date and escorting them to dinner and a film. They travel around in large packs, lots of times, and some of the pack members are couples. It's a lot like the European paradigm of "dating in groups," a concept that used to make mothers (falsely) believe that their little darlings would get in less trouble if they were in a group.

[ALBliberal]

62. Respectfully, I don't understand all these mental gymnastics to explain and or

deligitimize this crowd size. It was remarkable and some reports claim it was historic. Why not give the opponent (Sanders) that recognition and continue on working on increasing rally attendance for your candidate (Clinton). Unless you truly believe crowd size doesn't translate to votes nor has any reflection on the will of the voting public. And in that case, why bother commenting at all?

[MADem]

63. It was a speech geared to a college crowd, and he got the demographic he

sought. That is the point I am making. It's not "de-legitimizing" to say so. It's not "mental gymnastics" to point out the obvious.

What's odd is the way that I am getting push-back for saying this obvious thing, when all one has to do is look at the pictures. Bostonians are great people, but they aren't all freakishly young looking, and that was a young looking crowd for a reason--because it was a crowd of mostly college kids.

If he wanted a crowd of working people, he wouldn't have showed up at six PM on a Saturday--he would have gone to the Common or City Hall Plaza at noontime on a workday. If he wanted to talk to Senior Citizens, he would head to Florida after the snowbirds fly.

He wanted to highlight the free college plank of his platform, so he went to an audience that would be receptive to that piece. Nothing wrong with that, but let's not pretend that the crowd to which he spoke was demographically representative of America, because it wasn't.

[ALBliberal]

64. I think he achieved everything he set out to do and I would agree the crowd

was on the young side. Maybe we have no argument. Have a good evening MADem.

[artislife]

66. It is mental gymnastics, well more like tumbling

Gymnastics takes a bit more skill.

[beam me up scottie]

32. Over 20,000 people in Boston beg to disagree.

[ornotna]

40. You cared enough to read the OP and grace us with this wonderful reply

I care.

[sabrina 1]

31. Correction! 33,000! And people ARE talking about it!

[riderinthestorm]

38. K&R! nt

[MindfulOne]

54. Two hours of CNN, not a single word about Sanders. Clinton? Non-fucking-stop.

So rigged, more than I ever suspected.

[Aerows]

59. To hear some on DU speak

He's a total longshot. It's not like Hillary didn't do an appearance at the county that has the most registered Democrats in the country.

This is what it looked like:



Water bottles and cigarette butts on the floor, and nary a person cracking a smile while she was an hour late.

That looks like enthusiasm to me?

[MrMickeysMom]

60. I have made two phone calls to my local paper asking the same question...

The Sunday paper had NOTHING on the huge rally, nor any statement made by Sanders... yet they carried the NEA vote to support Clinton. In fairness, they showed by the arm wrestling by Clinton occurred so that the NEA turned their backs on their membership WHO ASKED TO WAIT until the coming debates.

They spent a lot of space in that article. At the same time, they appear to be gagged on running anything of real news on Sanders.

I let them hear from me.

[Live and Learn]

68. Cause they are all losers? At least according to Trump and apparently some DU members. nt

[Enthusiast]

69. Kicked and recommended!

[mhatrw]

70. Because giant corporations own our "free press"? n/t