Greetings, Kossacks, from Newport News, in the pivotal Hampton Roads region of swing-state Virginia. As you may know, Obama visited Newport News October 4 for an event that drew an estimated 18,000 people. Unfortunately, the city is out about $30,000, mostly for paying police officers overtime to work security.
The local media has run the story of how the Obama campaign's visit cost the city $30K, which doesn't sound great, but in and of itself isn't awful. Follow over the fold for the kicker.
The kicker is, the McCain-Palin campaign came to Virginia Beach (about 30 minutes away, also in the Hampton Roads market) the next week, and they paid $20,000 and cost the city nothing. There are two big differences in the visits.
The Obama event was outdoors at a city park, so there was no rent. The McCain event was at a convention center, so they paid the rental fee of $20K. Secondly, the Virginia Beach police department is much larger than ours, and they were able to fully staff the event with on-the-clock personnel, so they cost no overtime.
Here is a link to the local paper's reporting on the cost of the two events: Big Price Tag for Obama Rally
So here's the thing. I personally don't mind if the circumstances were different and our city had to pay $30K. But I am sure a lot of people do mind. And I think it would go a long way toward some good will among the locals if the Obama campaign "reimbursed" the city for the money they are out. Now I realize the Obama campaign did not bill the city in the first place, and have no obligation to do it. But I was thinking, given the media coverage of the cost, surely there would be some excellent media coverage if the Obama campaign, unsolicited by the city, gave us the $30,000 their visit cost us. Wouldn't the positive press and good will engendered by that $30,000 be a better investment than, say, spending that much on more TV ads?
So here is my question to you all: I was thinking of contacting Sam and Eric, my local guys from the Obama campaign, and asking them to pass word up the chain to the campaign with my proposal, and also trying to email the campaign myself via their website (though I don't know how effective either tactic might be). What do you think?
Update: so I just noticed something weird: the majority of comments seem against the idea, but the majority of votes in the poll are for the idea. I dont know what to make of that. Anyway, in light of the point raised that this would be a ridiculous precedent to set, I am not going to contact anyone. I think if the Obama campaign sees it in the news and decides to act, they can do that without prompting. Thanks to all of you who gave a thoughtful response, and to those who immediately thought "troll," next time take a second to check it out, okay?