Right sooooo to head off the usual: Attendance at rallies may not have “mattered” months ago but these numbers are from Dec, same towns in Iowa and days apart. From Democratic Underground.
Bernie 2000 attendees--Sanders Town Meeting in Dubuque, Iowa (12/12) Overflow crowd Source: Radio Iowa 1500 attendees--Sanders Town Meeting in Waterloo, Iowa (12/12) Standing-room only. Source: Waterloo Courier 1125 attendees--Sanders Town Hall in Mt. Vernon, Iowa (12/13) Clinton 200 attendees--"Fighting for Us" Town Hall in Ft. Dodge, Iowa (12/4) Source: ABC News 350 attendees--"Fighting For Us" Town Hall in Waterloo, Iowa (12/9) Source: Waterloo Courier 250 attendees_"Fighting For Us" Town Hall in Urbandale Iowa (12/9) Source: Radio Iowa
Now, whether this is a strategy on Clinton’s behalf to only pull small crowds or not, it does lend credence to the fact that people in Iowa are very, very excited about Bernie.
Some comments from that link:
when it comes to these rallies. I tried to be as fair as possible when comparing the numbers. I only compared each campaign's rally events. Both campaigns have met with small groups, had roundtable discussions or did corporate tours and met with volunteers and supporters at smaller venues. These were larger-venue events. They were touted as rallies in both campaign's emails and in the online marketing information sent out to supporters. Her crowds aren't as big as Bernie's. There's a very stark difference.
Yes, but there has been NO candidate go through Iowa...| ...who has won the Iowa caucuses, who has had anemic rally attendance. Kerry, who ran against Dean--had a very strong following. He had many people at his rallies, just as many as Dean. I supported Dean in 2004, but saw both team's rallies. They were comparable in size. Dean's support in Iowa was NOTHING like Bernie's support is for 2016. Dean had a vocal fanbase that was young. Look at Bernie's rallies all over our state. It's young, old, men, women--a very eclectic cross section. That's another stereotype that will be obliterated in January--"Bernie Bros". The optics and the coverage by the MSM of the Iowa Caucuses will demonstrate that this clearly is untrue. Bernie's crowds look like Obama's crowds. |
There is also a vid at the link of a Hillary rally with empty chairs all along the back. She’s not pulling the crowds, which may be why she’s bringing Bill out now. This was a similar thing to what happened in 2008, Bill talked more at the rallies I saw covered than she did.
We’re in the closing weeks of the early states and Hillary does not seem to be pulling the crowds that Bernie is plus; without holding multiple high dollar to enter fundraising events, Bernie has pulled in a massive amount of money and beat several historical candidate records. There are comments in that link that talk about the media blackout of Bernie in Iowa as well.
His entire campaign is being run on social media, there is something very telling about that fact.
UPDATE: To counter two comments that I have seen: “Comparing Weekend vs Weekday numbers.” Hillary’s campaign is scheduling these so if weekday numbers mean less people then that is her fault for choosing those times, not Bernie’s.
Secondly: Bernie’s August Monday rally in Los Angeles drew 27,000 people so not sure the weekday vs weekend logic applies here. www.latimes.com/…
Also in July when Bernie did his Livestream rally, which happened on a Thursday night, over 100k people attended house parties across the country to watch it. www.delawareonline.com/…
The livestream was expected to reach 3,146 grassroots gatherings across the United States, or about 100,000 people, according to campaign estimates. Attendees in Newark laughed when the livestream stalled and cheered when Sanders spoke about income equality and combating “institutional racism.”