Did Palin really attract 60K people in Florida today?

[4_Legs_Good]

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/21/palins-florida-debut-draws-thousands/

Can that really be true? Not a typo? 60,000 people to see a know-nothing sad excuse for a Governor of Alaska?

60K???

I mean it's not an insane amount, but that she could even compete with the crowds that Obama draws just doesn't seem to compute.

Any real news?

Edit to add pictures:

Here's the supposed 60,000 crowd in Florida:



Here's 80,000 in Portland for that other guy who only draws a few people:




David

[OwnedByFerrets]

1. I do NOT believe that...nt

www.wearableartnow.com

[Number23]

38. Neither do the folks who were there and doing the counting!

"A fire rescue official estimated the crowd at 25,000 to 30,000, while the Republican Party of Florida pegged the audience at twice that size."

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/campaign-2008/story/696050.html

[Jennicut]

40. McLIAR!!!

[Rosa Luxemburg]

2. The GOP probably paid to bus them in to Florida

[AtomicKitten]

3. McBushCo has already been busted for inflating the numbers.

[4_Legs_Good]

6. I would love to see them caught for doing that

It would be just such an embarassment. The only photo I've seen (on the CNN ticker) looks like 5K at the most. I was at a rally with 5K or so Obama supporters last year, and there don't appear to be any more than that there. I'd need to see al ot more photographic proof of 60K people to be even close to convinced.

Remember the pictures of Obama in Oregon at the end of the Primary. There was no doubt of his numbers there.

David

[AtomicKitten]

20. Yep, I saw Obama at the Bill Graham Civic here in SF -- also 5K.

I'm getting the impression the MSM doesn't quite know how to deal with this pack of pathological liars.

[grantdevine]

4. That makes sense. There's a lot of rightwingers in Florida.

[calmblueocean]

5. The Fire Marshal was "made available to the press by the McCain campaign"

In other words, he's a McCain hack. It sure as hell doesn't look like 60,000 people in that photo.

But of course, they say "there's no way to verify the count". Aren't there any decent aerial photos? I don't buy that this count cant be verified. It's just a typical phony Republican talking point.

[4_Legs_Good]

9. Exactly! This is what 80K people look like

60K doesn't look much different. That ticker photo looks like 5 or so to me.

David

[glowing]

7. I don't think so.. that venue is too small... I'd say more like 6000? I don't

think it was that many... When Obama was in Jacksonville, there was 10,000 and the police were turning people away.. I think though she is popular down here... mainly because the info that people get is just plain BAD for them.. there is NO liberal media, none, even the rags they call liberal are biased to the right.. its all a bunch of hooey... AND you notice the crowd is ONLY white people. That's it... they can only get racist assholes who are afraid of someone with darker shades moving in on the precious few jobs that are left.. AND I've noticed most of these people have the IQ of GWB..

[symbolman]

8. Fucking LIARS, and CNN is promoting it

from the picture there's probably about 3K, if that.. the "fire Chief supplied by the McCain campaign"? He's saying that there were people DOWN THE STREET? What in Restaurants but they WANTED to BE THERE?

Total Horseshit.. notice they say that Obama had a mere 20K while Palin had Tens of thousands.. excuse me but 20K IS TENS OF THOUSANDS..

I think they're actually counting the POPULATIONS of the area now, blatant lying.. desperate to PUSH this abomination from ALASKA on the rest of us, by hook or by crook..

Such BULL!! Do they think we're retarded? SHOW US THE CROWDS!!

[liberalmuse]

10. I doubt 60,000...

Obama in Charlotte today with a crowd of about 15,000 inside and up to 10,000 outside:


Palin's crowd in The Villages:

[TeamJordan23]

11. Looks like 90% of them are senior citizens. nm

[Applepie]

12. A community of 75,000

and 60,000 come out, doubtful. But then again read this about the Village. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Villages,_Florida

[TlalocW]

13. I don't buy it

When Palin went back to Alaska (and granted, Alaska doesn't have that big of a population), they talked about a rally in her support talking about the thousands of people there, and there was a picture of the event taken from the "outside" looking in - they were in some sports complex that could hold thousands of people, but the event was held in one corner, and from the way that corner was roped off, it could maybe hold 300 people max.

They're inflating their numbers because even with Palin "energizing the base," they can't pull the numbers Obama can.

TlalocW

[LunaSea]

29. alaska rally pic

[writes3000]

14. The Republicans have been LYING about everything including crowd size. So no. nt

[KewlKat]

15. Per the Miami Herald

"But Palin drew thousands more than the estimated 20,000 people that turned out for Bush. A fire rescue official estimated the crowd at 25,000 to 30,000, while the Republican Party of Florida pegged the audience at twice that size."



http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/campaign-2008/story/696050.html

[writes3000]

19. So the newspaper implies they're lying. AGAIN. nt

[jillan]

16. I saw a couple of articles saying this.

Having a real hard time believing it.

[Clio the Leo]

17. it says, "according to Mike Tucker...." .........

As we ALL know, ANYONE named "Tucker" is an operative for the RNC ...... I have a kitten named Tucker and I'm convinced he's a spy ..... yeah, not buying it

This article says 30,000
http://www.tampabays10.com/news/elections/story.aspx?storyid=90309&catid=36

[donco6]

18. The article I read downgraded to 20K.

So it was probably about 5.

[Blue Diadem]

21. She was in a republican retirement "village" of about 70,000 people

I haven't found anything from local sources to corroborate the 60,000 figure yet.
http://www.local6.com/politics/17523782/detail.html

Snip: Palin has injected excitement into the campaign for many voters, including numerous at The Villages, which is a reliably Republican community of nearly 70,000 retirees.

http://www.cfnews13.com/Politics/FloridaDecides/2008/9/21/palin_makes_first_florida_appearance.html

snip: Thousands gathered in The Villages to see the Alaska governor.

snip: The Villages, known to be predominantly Republican, has attracted some big names to the area. Still, News 13 found people -- women, in particular -- both for and against Palin as McCain's running mate.

This is the closest I could find with tens of thousands:

http://www.wftv.com/news/17522798/detail.html

THE VILLAGES, Fla. -- Sarah Palin played it safe Sunday on her first trip as John McCain's running mate to the battleground state of Florida.

She went to perhaps the easiest place in Florida to get a large Republican turnout, stuck mostly to the themes she's hit since the Republican convention and took no questions from reporters or the crowd.

But she was welcomed like a star, with tens of thousands cramming into a plaza and nearby streets in this enormous retirement community about an hour north of Orlando. Some waited more than five hours in 92-degree heat to see her speak for 23 minutes.
---------------------------------

[sakura]

22. Gresham?

:) The Portland rally was almost equivalent in size to the population of Gresham, OR (85K, versus 97K), but it certainly didn't take place there. For one thing, there's no place in downtown Gresham that could hold that many people. For another, Gresham is one of the redder suburbs of Portland.

[4_Legs_Good]

28. Oops.

I read it on one of the pages when I was looking for links. I was actually recently in Gresham, so I was trying to figure out where the heck it could have been there. I'll edit the OP!

Thanks for the heads up!

David

[sakura]

32. No problem.

:hi:

We were at the Portland rally (only three rows away from the stage!) and I taught in Gresham. There's a world of difference between the two places-- I'm very glad my son is going to school in Portland! Gresham is the home of the Gardenburger, however, which I think gives it some cred.

[4_Legs_Good]

34. Love Gardenburgers!!!!

I visited Portland for about 3 hours for the first time this summer since I was a kid, and it was really, really cool. I wish I could have spent more time there, but we were on our way further up north on a whirlwind road trip. I can't wait to go back. It seems like downtown has all the benfits of a big city, but still seems friendly.

David

[sakura]

37. We love it here.

Glad you had a nice time-- hope the weather cooperated. I grew up in NYC, and to me, like you said, Portland has all (or most) of the benefits of a big city, but fewer of the negatives. It has a very small town feel at times, and is a lot more accessible than larger cities. It has also done a lot to plan rationally, preserve key wild areas and limit sprawl. The nation's largest natural forested area within a city is here, as well as lots of parks. It's definitely a nice place to raise a family, especially if you want your child exposed to varied life styles and values. The down side is that it's not very ethnically diverse.

[mzmolly]

23. Key words "according to the McCain campaign..."

So, I'm going to say ... no.

[BlooInBloo]

24. They've been lying about the size of their "crowds" all along. Someone has the links handy, I'm sure

EDIT: Ah - google is my friend -

http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&=&q=mccain+campaign+lying+about+crowd+size&btnG=Google+Search

[JI7]

25. does not look 60k at all, not even close to it

[jab105]

26. My Mother in Law lives in the Villages...

it is a retirement city in central Florida - close enough for people from Orlando and Tampa to come to the rally...
I dont doubt that it was packed, but in that heat, I very very much doubt that 60000 actually turned out...
I heard 18000 of 20000 tickets were handed out ahead of time, wouldn't think much more than that...I've been to that center, it isn't that big...
For a candidate who just last month was mocking Obama for large rallies, this is just weird...the Republicans so desperately want someone like Obama to inspire them that they latch onto the first pretty face that comes along...but Obama is not any average candidate...Palin...yea...

[PerfectSage]

27. Dr Freud says McCain has crowd size envy.

[Top Cat]

30. Politico reports the crowd at around 25k

Sarah Palin tonight attracted the largest crowd yet to any Republican campaign event this cycle, drawing tens of thousands of Floridians out in a conservative-leaning retirement community north of Orlando for a solo rally.

Exactly how many voters Palin, making her first campaign trek to the Sunshine State, had in The Villages is uncertain.

Mike Tucker, a local fire marshal, estimated 60,000. But reporters on the ground, including AP's Brendan Farrington and my colleague Ken Vogel, would only say "tens of thousands," suggesting the marshal's estimate was on the high side. The St. Pete Times's Adam Smith had another fire official in the crowd say it was about 25,000.

Regardless, the size of the crowd underscores just how enthused conservatives are for Palin and the sort of buzz she's still able to drive nearing a month after her introduction as John McCain's running mate.

Republicans can always draw good crowds out at the sprawling Villages -- exactly a year ago I saw Fred Thompson thronged like a matinee idol there -- but the Florida GOP is saying tonight that Palin's crowd broke state attendance records. At the very least, it outpaced the 15,000 President Bush drew to the retirement community four years ago.

To reiterate: An Alaska governor who was virtually unknown a month ago and is the number two on the presidential ticket may have doubled or tripled the crowd for a sitting president.



http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0908/Palin_draws_largest_crowd_yet_for_GOP_.html

[4_Legs_Good]

31. 25K is < 1/2 of 60K

They should be called on this.

They're dishonest about everyfreaking thing! It's getting rediculous.

David

[Lord Helmet]

33. that's not even close to 60,000

[Frank Booth]

35. The Obama campaign needs to hire this fire chief fella. He'd be drawing crowds of

560,000.

Of course, we're supposed to believe that it's a bad thing when Obama gets big crowds.

[Lorien]

36. No. 30,000

as per my neighbor, a local news director, who was at the event and also got her numbers from the police who were there.

[barack the house]

39. This is ultimately about mccain and really there no clear evidence of change and that is what the>

vote should come down to.