HOF44 Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 The Obama Campaign is making history. Link to AP Article WASHINGTON (AP) -- Barack Obama is attracting jaw-dropping crowds at stop after stop. Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton would be thrilled with her own big turnouts except that his are so much bigger. Political insiders are unsure what to make of it all: No one has seen these kinds of crowds so long before Election Day. Do to-the-rafters audiences in the primaries mean Obama will win the Democratic nomination? Or do his crowds simply represent highly motivated fans who eventually will be outnumbered by quieter, less-visible voters for Clinton? Or for the Republican nominee in November? While some major Republican candidates were struggling to draw 800 people just before the Feb. 5 primaries, Obama spoke before 54,000 on a three-stop Saturday. That was approaching the population of Wilmington, Del., where he drew 20,000 the next day, Super Bowl Sunday. Within 24 hours last weekend, Clinton drew 45,000 people in three cities in Virginia and Maryland. The crowds were reflected in the turnout on primary day, numbers that warm the hearts of Democrats looking ahead to November and cause consternation in the GOP. In Virginia, where a Democratic presidential nominee hasn't won in four decades, Democrats outnumbered Republicans at the polls by two-to-one, 970,393 to 481,970, and Obama got 623,141 votes. In arena after arena, fire marshals turn people away. Obama briefly speaks to the disappointed groups, in overflow rooms or freezing parking lots, before addressing the big crowds inside. Presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin said the last politician to draw such "fervent, huge crowds" was Robert F. Kennedy, in 1968. Unlike Obama, she said, Kennedy started with a famous name and legacy, "which makes this even more extraordinary." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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