Wall-to-Wall Supporters-- or Is It?( & Shrinking Battleground)

[papau]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6628-2004Sep8.html

Wall-to-Wall Supporters: It Sure Is Crowded in Here -- or Is It?(Shrinking Battleground)


By Dana Milbank

Thursday, September 9, 2004; Page A05


This is the time in the political calendar when soothsayers point to the size of crowds at rallies to see which candidate is producing more enthusiasm. The campaigns, well aware of this practice, can't resist putting their thumbs on the scale.<snip>

It seems that the Bush campaign is inflating its crowd counts by 45 to 75 percent. Some of this may be the result of people walking through metal detectors more than once, but there's clearly some old-fashioned crowd padding going on.

The Shrinking Battleground

<snip>
Campaign officials said the ad would begin airing in seven states, with an eighth to be added later in the week. Combined with an independent advertising campaign by the Democratic National Committee, the Democrats will be focused for now on 14 swing states.

<snip>The new Kerry ad began airing in Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Wisconsin. The campaign will add Ohio this week.

The DNC's ad buy includes all of the states where Kerry is advertising, except New Mexico, but adds Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.<snip>

[maine_raptor]

1. Crowd Padding, Loyalty Oaths, and Metal Detectors, Oh My!!!!

Wonder if they also have giant air freshners to hide the scent of Fear?

Padding the count by 45-75% is a sure sign of it.