I've been an ardent Obama supporter from before Barack even made his announcement to run for president, and for the most part I think the Obama campaign has been doing a great job. But something's been missing lately...
And what's that? The absence of the BIG Obama rally. It seems that the campaign has stopped having the BIG rallies... you know, the rallies that drew adoring and cheering crowds of 10,000 - 30,000 people or more. It seems that such rallies have become extinct!
Those rallies created a real excitement and positive energy around Obama's candidacy, something that has now been co-opted by the big McCain-Palin rallies.
In the meantime, what we've been getting from the Obama campaign are these low-key, high-information, smaller town-hall meetings, which are fine - but, I contend, NOT to the exclusion of having the energizing and exciting large rallies that Barack used to have.
The big rallies were getting front page, full-page, newspaper coverage with entire special newspaper sections devoted to the event! (I should know, as I would check the front pages over at Newseum - Today's Front Pages). Local t.v. stations had entire special reports and live coverage! It was all very positive media - and FREE!
In smaller states like North Dakota, Obama's big rally in Grand Forks was the BIG story statewide. The positive all-Obama coverage extended up to a week before and a few days after his appearance. That's priceless!
I was fortunate enough to attend Obama's big rally in Grand Forks, as well as his smaller town-hall in Fargo, and I need to tell you - the bigger rally was far more effective in rallying support for Obama state-wide.
The smaller gig in Fargo actually had a negative effect with some people, because so many of them were excluded from being able to get in - including many people I know who had been some of Obama's best supporters. It's a shame, because Barack could have easily filled the 20,000 seat FargoDome.
There are still millions of people longing to get to see Barack Obama in person - millions of people who would attend his big rallies, become excited and energized, and spread their excitement about Barack to others. It would also sell lots of newspapers, earning Barack lots of free positive media coverage, further promoting him!
I hope that the BIG Obama rallies have not become extinct!
I implore the Obama campaign to bring back the BIG rallies!