Mudflats takes one for the team by attending both the Democratic and Republican rallies competing in Anchorage yesterday...
Once again, there were duelling rallies here in Anchorage today. The McCain-Palin rally was held in the just-completed Denaina Convention Center in downtown Anchorage. The Obama rally was held outside, just a couple blocks away, at the Delaney Park Strip, also in downtown Anchorage.
Okay none of the tickets are actually in town campaigning, so you figure that the homegirl Palin would at a minimum be able to get her crowds on? Not so much....
...I walked into the room and I really was stunned. I felt like I had entered an empty chair convention. It was really bad. I actually felt sorry for the organizers for a minute, before I snapped myself out of it. A head count yielded about 250-300 people.
And what about the Obama rally held outside in the 40ish degree weather?
By 1:00, there were more than a thousand people milling around with signs, kids, dogs and huge smiles. This was definitely a feel-good place. Hundreds lined the roadside waving signs to appreciative honking motorists, and hundreds more milled around the tent area.
It really is worth reading the whole thing. Particularly the part where the desperate GOPers try to inspire the crowd of fewer and fewer faithful by reminding them of how our enemies hate the Amurrican way of life, and then conveniently talking about how the people at 'the other rally'
...were just full of hate, and anger and fear, and that “we” (the Palin rally) were the ones having a good time. “So,” he told us, “you need to decide which side you want to be on!”
UPDATE: Here's some video of the Obama rally from iReport. This person estimated 1200 people showed up.
Thank you Mudflats for sweetening our schadenfreude...