Obama Draws 100,000 In St. Louis: His Record In America
Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama drew boffo crowds today in St. Louis — reportedly a record for him in North America but it comes as polls are tightening and there are growing concerns about Democratic overconfidence:
ST. LOUIS, Mo. — A record-breaking 100,000 people cheered Sen. Barack Obama under the Gateway Arch on the Mississippi River, by far the biggest stateside crowd drawn by the Democratic nominee.
“All I can is, wow,” said Obama, surveying the sea of supporters, including a few watching from trees and nearby balconies. His home state of Illinois was right across the muddy river.
The huge turnout seemed to confirm that Missouri, the ultimate bellwether, is within reach for Obama this year. Republicans are blanketing the state with robocalls and direct mail, trying to erode support for Obama, but also down ballot as well. Democrats hope to pick up two House seats in Missouri, and could win the governorship.
Obama disputed allegations by Sen. John McCain that he was sparking class warfare by proposing a tax hike for the wealthy, and tax cuts for the middle and working classes.
“My opponent’s been talking a lot about taxes in his campaign,” Obama told the crowd. “But here’s the truth Missouri — we are both offering tax cuts. The difference is who we’re cutting taxes for.”
As noted in other posts on this site and elsewhere, the polls are starting to tighten. GOPers now realize that their battle is not yet lost — amid concern in top Democratic ranks that Democrats could (once again) become complacent and have a rude awakening the day after Election Day…
8 Responses to “Obama Draws 100,000 In St. Louis: His Record In America”
I guess they (a 100,000 patriotic Americans) didn't get the memo about Ayers, ACORN or Obama's faltering polls.
FWIW – Mailed my vote for Obama (via Absentee Ballot) today…
Before the St Louis crowd could influence me…
And before FoxNews or the GOP starts calling them an anti-American mob.
To be fair & balanced… John McCain held a rally today, too.
75,000 people saw him Kansas City AFTER he spoke in St. Louis.
175,000 Missourians saw Obama speak today.
That is staggering.
One rather stunning fact however is that you don't see these massive audience numbers clearly reflected in the polls. McCain speaks to 10,000 while Obama speaks to 100,000, and yet there's a 5 point or so overall poll difference (depending on the poll). I don't know what it means, but it's intriguing.
pacatrue: “One rather stunning fact however is that you don't see these massive audience numbers clearly reflected in the polls…. I don't know what it means, but it's intriguing.”
I absolutely agree with you… it is intriguing.
The only thing I can think of (for this purpose I'm assuming the polls are accurate… but that's another debate) is that Obama's supporters are much more energized and want to see him, whereas McCain's supporters aren't that energized and many may support McCain because of their own racism. McCain clearly doesn't energize his supporters the way Obama does.
I still can't say that Obama will win…. but I do think it would be a stunning loss if he loses when he draws crowds this size, has a sizable number of independents and Republicans voting for him, while McCain is happy to announce he has crowds of 10-15k with not much support (that I can tell) from independents or Dems.
These kind of crowds are also reflective of Obama's fundraising campaign. He raised in September, $150,000,000 from 3.1 million people including 632,000 new ones. The average contribution is $86 – simply amazing.
I wouldn't worry about overconfidence about Obama — it'll likely be closer than people expect, but people expect him to win now, no question about it. The problem is overconfidence by and once again, misinterpretation of, the election and what it means about liberal politics and policies. That is to say, hopefully the Dems won't be arrogant and conceited and stupidly ambitious in Congress and want to hurl the nation leftward. They deserve the equivalent of 1994 or more if they do so.
The Kansas City crowd probably had a lot of Kansans in it as well.