Donald Trump’s size doesn’t matter. Also, he’s probably exaggerating it

[George II]

SUNDAY, JUL 26, 2015 12:00 PM EDT

If crowds mattered, we'd have elected Romney, Kerry and Dukakis. So why do candidates and the press trumpet them?

ROBERT MANN

Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is drawing large crowds at rallies almost everywhere he goes. Nearly 10,000 in Wisconsin; more than 7,000 in Portland, Maine; more than 5,000 in Denver; and 3,000 in Minneapolis.

That, according to some political observers, is evidence that Sanders is a threat to the Democrats’ presumptive nominee, Hillary Clinton. “Sanders’s audience—in a state not among those with traditional early nominating contests—rivaled the largest drawn by Clinton and the Vermont senator in recent weeks,” Washington Post reporter John Wagner opined of Sanders’ recent Denver rally. “The extraordinary turnout was the latest evidence that Sanders, 73, has tapped into the economic anxiety of the Democratic electorate.”

Not to be outdone, Donald Trump on Saturday bragged that the size of his rally in a Phoenix hotel ballroom “blows away anything that Bernie Sanders has gotten.” Most journalists covering the event pegged the crowd’s size at 4,000 to 5,000. Trump’s staff told Fox News that 15,000 supporters were on hand. Trump later tweeted that he had attracted more than 20,000 (in a ballroom with a maximum legal occupancy of 2,158).

Some in the media were duly impressed by Trump’s crowds on his weekend Western tour (he also held events in Las Vegas and Los Angeles). ABC News described the campaign events in an online story headlined, “Trump Talks Immigration to Record Crowds in Border State.” The headline of MSNBC’s story about Trump’s weekend: “Donald Trump draws massive crowds during campaign swing.”

I have bad news for Sanders, Trump, their supporters and some in the news media fixated on the numbers at candidates’ rallies: The size of rallies has long been a flawed measure of a campaign’s vitality. Journalists often survey an arena brimming with enthusiastic supporters and mistakenly use a head count to gauge the campaign’s prospects. Candidates and their staffs are eager to bolster that faulty notion, sometimes feeding reporters exaggerated crowd estimates (there’s no evidence Sanders’ campaign has done that).


More at: http://www.salon.com/2015/07/26/donald_trumps_size_doesnt_matter_also_hes_probably_exaggerating_it/


_____________________________


Massive crowds don't translate into votes.

[elleng]

1. Good. Thanks for REALITY!

Martin O'Malley Breaks Into Song At Iowa Campaign Event.with VIDEO

The former Maryland governor serenaded supporters with a guitar performance.

BEAVERDALE, Iowa -- Former Maryland governor and Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley treated supporters to an impromptu performance on Friday, serenading them during a campaign stop in Iowa.

Following his remarks at a local pub in Beaverdale, O’Malley was handed a guitar, and led a song session while standing on a chair.

“Oh, a guitar, really,” O’Malley said with a smile on his face. “It’s miraculous how these things emerge.” . .

Following O’Malley’s musical performance on Friday, campaign staffers collected nearly a dozen commit-to-caucus forms, a possible sign that voters were digging more than the tunes.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/martin-omalley-song_55b4e279e4b0224d883283a2

[RobertEarl]

15. The takeaway on this

Is that Trump is already comparing himself to Bernie.!

The front-runner of the republican party recognizes that what Bernie is doing is so huge, he has made an attempt to match the Bern!

[Ken Burch]

2. Small crowds can't be a sign of a strong campaign, though.

Big donations don't make up for a lack of passionate support.

[OregonBlue]

3. I thought you were referring to how grossly fat he has become. A real tub of lard.

[Sanity Claws]

6. That is what I thought too

[trueblue2007]

4. tRump is full of crap and to me appears to be lying about size of the crowds.

[JaneyVee]

5. I thought this was about his ego.

[grasswire]

7. my mind immediately went to a smutty answer

Don't ya spose he lies about that, too?

[George II]

8. With his gut, he probably hasn't seen it in years.

[grasswire]

9. Hahaha!

No doubt.

And guys like him have ingrown hairs everywhere.

[Marie Marie]

10. "And guys like him have ingrown hairs everywhere".

[grasswire]

11. the stuff of nightmares, eh? nt

[Marie Marie]

12. Sure is...

and I can't stop laughing at your rather astute assumption.

[grasswire]

13. The last guy I labeled thus was Kenneth Starr

I worked in a hospital. I know the type. Sweaty, pale, and ingrown hairs.

[Ken Burch]

14. Major distinction between them though(aside from the fact that Bernie has a soul)

Nobody is paid to attend Bernie Sanders rallies.

[phleshdef]

18. That and the fact that Bernie's numbers are real while Trump multiplies them by 5 or 10.

[oberliner]

16. Did Romney have bigger crowds than Obama?

It sure didn't seem that way.

[dionysus]

17. maybe you can get kissenger to help stump for hillary, and drive even more voters away...