FAIRFAX, Va. -- All election season I've been saying if you want
to find parking, go to a Republican campaign event. That's because
ever since Iowa, the crowd sizes at Republican candidate rallies
have paled in comparison to what the Democrats draw. But that was
in the pre-Palin era. Now everything has changed, and suddenly
Obama-like crowds are following Republicans.
Arriving at the rally an hour ahead of time, we had to cricle
around for 15 minutes just to find paking a half a mile away from
the event, on a residential street. The line to get into the rally,
which was held at a local park, extended for several blocks, and by
the time I got in I saw thousands of people fanning out all over
the park from the stage.
It's amazing how much Palin has become the focus of these McCain
events. The most popular chant was "SA-RAH!" "SAR-AH!" "SAR-AH!" I
saw one man with a "Sarah! Will you marry me?" sign, another that
read "Read my lipstick: Baseball and Soccer Mom for McCain-Palin"
and another that read "She's Our Girl."
Fred Thompson made a surprise appearance to warm up the
audience, and most of his speech revolved around Palin, defending
her record and experience against Democrats and the media.
"Sarah Palin has more experience than Barack Obama," Thompson
said, to more chants of "SAR-AH!"
"They are now parachuting in dozens of lawyers, and
investigators, and scandal mongers, and representatives of cable
networks to look under every rock they can find in Alaska," he
said, echoing the theme of a new McCain
ad. "I hope they brought their own brei and chablis with
them."
Thompson also made what appeared to be a reference to the
lipstick-on-a-pig controversy. His words were obscured by applause
on my recording, but he said Democrats launched the "most vicious
assault" he's seen in a presidential race and are now "pulling out
all the stops."
McCain and Palin entered with Cindy and Todd at their side with
"Eye of the Tiger" blasting, and they gave what were more or less
condensed versions of their convention speeches. This is more of a
problem for Palin than it is for McCain. Roughly 40 million people
saw her speech. The longer she goes on repeating some of the
often-quoted lines (such as the one about how some men use change
to promote their careers and others, like John McCain, use their
careers to promote change), the more it will reinforce the idea
that she has nothing much else to say. At some point, and I think
we're getting there pretty soon, she's going to have to mix it up
more.
But for now, the crowd loves it. The event drew 23,000 people,
according to an RNC source citing the fire marshall report, which
would make it the biggest event of the entire campaign for McCain.
In a 13-electoral vote state that Obama hopes to paint blue for the
first time since 1964, it's going to be crucial for McCain to
turnout his voters. I can confirm other reports that people did
begin to leave after Palin spoke (and while McCain was speaking),
though it was far from a mass exodus. Most people stayed to hear
McCain, and there were chants of "JOHN MC-CAIN!" And as they
exited, volunteers were handing out yard signs and bumper
stickers.
topics:
John McCain, Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, Law, Alaska
