Obama plays to half-empty house for grassroots fundraiser
posted at 2:45 pm on June 14, 2011 by Ed Morrissey
Barack Obama has had some success already in raising money for his 2012 re-election bid, at least when it comes to big-ticket donors and high-value fundraisers. Yesterday, Obama tried his hand at harnessing the kind of grassroots passion that helped elevate him past Hillary Clinton in the 2008 primaries and roll to a historic victory over John McCain, becoming the first Democrat since Jimmy Carter to win a majority of the popular vote in victory. As Politico notes, Obama was decidedly less successful with the mainstream than with the elite Democratic donors he’s been wooing lately:
A low-dollar fundraiser here Monday felt like a throwback to the 2008 campaign. … The one missing element? Overflowing crowds.
Granted, it was a fundraiser, not a free rally. But the empty seats were hard to miss.
The top level of the 2,200-seat concert hall at the Adrienne Arsht Center for Performing Arts was entirely empty, as were the seats along the side of the second and third levels.
“The expectation was 900,” a Democratic official said, and more than 980 tickets were sold.
The unnamed Democratic official is grasping for spin in this case. No one in politics would book a 2200-seat venue if they only expected 900 people to show, especially not for a Presidential appearance. Campaigns want standing-room only crowds and wall-to-wall people for optics that reinforce the notion that the candidate remains wildly popular. Had they expected 900 attendees (at $44 each to remind voters that Obama is the 44th President), they could have found a venue in Miami or its environs that would have properly framed that kind of attendance for the media.
For instance, a quick search turns up the New World Symphony center’s Performance Hall, which seats 756 people for banquets. That would probably fit the remaining 140 or so people in theater seating formation. South Beach has The Clevelander, which has a reception capacity of 1000 people. The Awarehouse might be a little avant garde, but it still can get 800 people in for a reception, which would have cost $4400 in receipts but a lot less embarrassment.
The lack of enthusiasm seems especially revealing, coming as it does in Miami-Dade County. Obama won this county handily in 2008 while taking Florida from the Republicans. He beat McCain by 16 points in Miami-Dade, 58/42, with a margin of over 139,000 votes. That was his largest margin among any of Florida’s counties, and yet now he can’t even fill a 2200-seat venue halfway after two and a half years as President. That’s a clear signal that Obama won’t get anywhere near the kind of enthusiasm he inspired in 2008, and without that, he’s very vulnerable indeed.
Update: Actually, as noted in the comments by TimTebowSavesAmerica, I’m incorrect on one point. Broward actually had a wider margin of victory by vote totals for Obama, by over 243,000.
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I’ve seen crocodiles with better teeth.
slickwillie2001 on June 14, 2011 at 4:47 PM
Not having ACORN around this time is going to hurt.
GarandFan on June 14, 2011 at 5:09 PM
And smaller thighs.
Aviator on June 14, 2011 at 5:27 PM
Geez, what’s wrong with the LSM…can’t they just CGI folks into the empty seats?
Pure laziness.
Dr. ZhivBlago on June 14, 2011 at 5:44 PM
Miami is hot this time of year; nice beaches though.
IR-MN on June 14, 2011 at 5:52 PM
Ed Morrissey on June 14, 2011 at 4:16 PM
Incorrect. You’re right with the Dade number, but wrong with your overall point. Obama got a +255k vote advantage in Broward County. Most likely that’s his best county than either Tampa area or Orange County. Palm Beach was almost the same number as Dade. You can check CNN historical data by counties.
TimTebowSavesAmerica on June 14, 2011 at 5:56 PM
Dammit, you’re … er … right. I’ve added a correction.
Ed Morrissey on June 14, 2011 at 6:04 PM
In keeping with the debate moderator last night:
President Obama. Half-empty or half-full?
Marcus on June 14, 2011 at 6:07 PM
They’re still around. They’re just using different names now. And they’ll be working just as hard to sign up dead, fictitious, and illegal alien voters for Obama in 2012 as they did in 2008.
AZCoyote on June 14, 2011 at 6:21 PM
Leftie thugs at work.
They did the same with a mass mailing by dummy Gibbs.
Schadenfreude on June 14, 2011 at 6:30 PM
Entirely full…of b.s….
disa on June 14, 2011 at 6:33 PM
Half empty of gray matter, half full of destructive torro doodoo.
Schadenfreude on June 14, 2011 at 6:38 PM
Well…that’s nice to know if/when Perry gets into the race….
http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/9316/txgov-acorns-proudest-moment-involved-governor-rick-perrys-signature
tencole on June 14, 2011 at 6:43 PM
Sumi hardest hit in WI, Walker law stands 5/4 SC vote…Obama hardest hit, along with unions.
crr6 in convultions.
Schadenfreude on June 14, 2011 at 6:44 PM
Sorry, WI was a 4/3 decision.
Schadenfreude on June 14, 2011 at 6:46 PM
This is a special day. First, Obama couldn’t even get 50% of the tickets sold at a fund raiser last night, AND the WI Supreme Court upheld the original anti-union laws passed earlier this year in special session.
Little victories every day will eventually get our country back on course. Next up, reapportionment for congressional seats by the large new Republican majorities in states formerly held by Dems, AND getting a good nominee for the GOP ticket from the candidate field, declared and undeclared.
karenhasfreedom on June 14, 2011 at 7:19 PM
What did Obama say at these fundraisers?
Brace yourselves…
He told everyone how wonderful a job Debbie Downer is doing.
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-congresswoman-you-want-her-your-fo
itsnotaboutme on June 14, 2011 at 7:39 PM
…Details:
itsnotaboutme on June 14, 2011 at 7:40 PM
Considering how much it costs to chauffeur the President anywhere, I think they probably lost money, unless, of course, the taxpayers footed the bill.
NNtrancer on June 14, 2011 at 8:28 PM
Too bad his base is underemployed or lost their unemployment and can’t afford the bus fare, let alone the $44, to attend. Hope and change!
Philly on June 14, 2011 at 8:48 PM
Let’s hope they also can’t find gas money to make it to the polls next year.
slickwillie2001 on June 14, 2011 at 9:10 PM
Please give me money so I can be your man that gives away all those other peoples money to buy votes so I can legislate for you to get the main share of those other peoples money. About sums it up.
texriot on June 14, 2011 at 9:39 PM
TimTebowSavesAmerica,
At least we can all agree that Broward is worse than both of us.
John Deaux on June 14, 2011 at 10:17 PM
Unless you are Jeff Immelt or some other waivered hack I wonder what kind of “grass” you have to be on to attend one of Zero’s fundraisers.
viking01 on June 14, 2011 at 11:03 PM
I fired away lots of tweets to Allahpundit and Ed about Obama’s fundraiser in Puerto Rico.
Here’s my story:
I set up the house/blog for the pm, and expected a huge recap about O’s trip to catch up and watch, then write about it. Then my sis called me all ps’d off (and she was not pro-Obama but not against him either-and we think pretty much along the same lines.)
My sis sounded like a sailor having a really bad day. She told me to get online and listen to talk radio there; listen, and then talk on the cell. I was in the middle of nowhere enjoying a break with my crowd and then Obama messed up his PR visit worse than I imagined. Crap.
I had bad signal plus an iPhone sucks at that w/o Flash. She called back four minutes later, so she was more upset than I imagined. She asked me if I was listening online and I explained to her no, told her where I was at, no wifi and she gave me such a recap that it almost ruined my afternoon.
For those on Twitter, the hashtag is #obamapr. I browsed and read as fast as I could jumping in from TweetDeck to the Internet to put together what I could not believe-and you can check it for yourselves, w/o my help.
He arrived early in the afternoon, as scheduled. Then (I have to doublecheck the timeline) before or after paying a visit to the Governor’s mansion, O took a different route than expected. Before heading for the Caribe Hilton hotel for the usual fundraiser (where he only grabbed $1.5M) he stopped at Kasalta Bakery in Condado area, a suburb of San Juan. Hillary had breakfast there last time during their Dem primaries. Concidence much?
Then in comes the famous “Medianoche sandwich” story…he met with the president of the opposite party in the bakery! So they ate, discussed some business and spent more time in that bakery than at the governor’s mansion which could not have been more than 15 minutes. He could not have been inside the mansion more than that time. He was offered a nice lunch by governor prepared beforehand, and he refused it! He said he had food on the plane!He not only ate that sandwich and a coffee, but he tasted several types of ham, had a “quesito” and he tried some of the rest of the desserts of the bakery. Where was Moochelle?
We still gave him as one of many presents, the most outstanding was the American flag that was hoisted when JFK visited the island, preserved and all. A 50-year old American flag with Puerto Rico’s emblem/official shield on it. Lots of other presents.
I cringe when I think where that American flag will end up at. If he doesn’t want it, send it to the Kennedys. They’d appreciate it way more than what this bozo does to anything he’s given.
To add salt to the injury he left at 3:30 PM when he was scheduled to leave at 5. Now go check out the official WH photo of the day: Instead of Obama in a business casual attire with the Governor in his mansion, is him having his sandwich meeting with the senator of the opposite party.
I have not gone through the agenda prepared FOR the president FROM the people of Puerto Rico who wanted to show ttheir talents, entertain as usual. He could only squeeze in a childrens’ choir, singing the “Borinqueña” song which would be about the same as “Amazing Grace”.
He parroted the same line Puerto Rico gets from all the other US Presidents, more jobs, green projects and leave the solution of the PR status to us…so, nothing.You know the usual, pandering to the audience at hand, then cheer up and promises galore. Interaction with the people at the bakery I believe was better than what was people that waited for HOURS just to see him. Many never did.
As I’ve written before, Puerto Rico is as divided with the current status as if we’re the Hatfields vs. The McCoys. This did not help one bit. One reason I gradually stopped reading those comments it was because it was the same stuff I grew up with all my life; and fighting over an issue that I know will get nowhere with Obama nor the economy-add to that a Constitutional amendment-Puerto Rico will not be able to move forward.
Sorry for the long post, but HA has the scoop as much as I do. I passed on right now as much as I could and Ed and Allah have a lot of what I got. I will read some more tomorrow because this Obama visit is not over.
What he did to the people of PR was intentional, shameless and left a great distate to most people in PR. People in FLA, NY should pay attention, esp. FLA. Cubans and PRicans don’t forget being dissed. Just ask Irene Cara.
ProudPalinFan on June 14, 2011 at 11:49 PM
Obama will give it to Bill Ayers to use on the cover of his next anti-American book.
Roy Rogers on June 15, 2011 at 7:49 AM
It may be a little early to be singing, “Turn out the lights, the party’s over.” The demonrats are not a political party anymore. They are an international labor movement that can only succeed if the country fails. When the communist party openly supports a candidate to be president, they will not go easily. The will of the American people is being tested.
volsense on June 15, 2011 at 8:53 AM
Of the three judges who filed a dissent, note that some concurred in part and dissented in part. This decision was not as close as it may look.
BigAlSouth on June 15, 2011 at 9:15 AM
After watching Frank Luntz’s focus group last night on Hannity, being comprised of dems/reps…seems like 80 percent gave Bo a D or F,, yet… it looked like by a show of hands that only 3 or 4 of them were not going to vote for the Won again. There’s no rhyme or reason to his followers. I noticed one of them also said she was “just glad that Michelle Bachmann wasn’t Sarah Palin.” They should all be deported.
DanaSmiles on June 15, 2011 at 11:58 AM
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