Did You Know...

**Written by Doug Powers

Remember those enormous crowds that turned out for Obama’s rallies in 2008 and helped create an unstoppable wave of excitement culminating in a convincing election victory? They’re not going to make that mistake again:

However, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are not drawing the crowds they once could. The New York Times reported that the Obama campaign said that it is intentionally limiting crowd size at their events because of security and cost:

“We have plenty of time for big rallies,” a campaign spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, said between the rallies on Thursday. “Our focus right now is on exciting our supporters and winning over undecided voters and the smaller and medium-size events are the best venue to accomplish that because the president can closely engage with the crowd.”

Big rallies are expensive, especially given the logistical and security challenges for a president as opposed to a mere United States senator. And Obama campaign operatives, both at the Chicago headquarters and in swing states where Mr. Obama recently has stumped, say the campaign intentionally limits crowds by restricting tickets. The reason is to allow the president to better connect with supporters, aides say.

This intentional crowd downsizing will be accompanied by the launch of revised slogans: “Elbow room you can believe in” and “Forward! Or sideways… there’s plenty of space for you to move either way.”

Differing strategies…

2008: Yes we can!

2012: Found people who haven’t lost their house yet!

So far the Romney/Ryan campaign isn’t adopting the “less is better” approach.

**Written by Doug Powers

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