Apparently, there is some old guy running for President:
Republican presidential nominee John McCain held his first rally without running mate Sarah Palin today, and let's just say there were seats available.
The McCain "Road to Victory" rally was originally scheduled to be a pancake breakfast, but the campaign said there was such an outpouring of enthusiasm the event was shifted to the 15,000-seat Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena.
The may not have been the best idea: There were almost no supporters in any of the cavernous arena's 24 upper-level seating sections, and only eight of the 21 sections downstairs held fans. Only four of those were filled, though some supporters crowded around the stage on the arena floor.
Stumper noticed it too.
Though the AP buried the attendance, they noticed it too, and their actual lede was not exactly complementary:
Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Monday he still believes the fundamentals of the nation's economy are strong even as the uncertain fate of two of Wall Street's oldest institutions sent stocks tumbling.
In remarks to a crowd of several thousand in this pivotal electoral state, the Arizona senator said he agreed there should be no taxpayer-financed bailout of Lehman Brothers even as the investment banking giant filed for bankruptcy. Meanwhile, Merrill Lynch was selling itself to Bank of America for less than half of the iconic brokerage firm's recent value.
Reacting to the turmoil on Wall Street, the Dow dropped some 300 points.
"Our economy, I believe, still, the fundamentals of our economy are strong, but these are very, very difficult times, so I promise you: We will never put America in this position again. We will clean up Wall Street," McCain said.
More from
The Orlando Sentinel.
Palin may be the crowd draw, but that makes McCain little more than
Bert Parks. The war room cry of the 1992 Clinton campaign is being rasied today instead. It's the economy, stupid. If we can drive that cry home, folks, we win -- and Sarah Palin's spot on the ticket won't matter a hill of beans in this crazy world we live in.