An Interesting Photo From Last Night's Obama Rally

At this link, courtesy of the Detroit Free Press, you can see a panning 360-degree crowd shot from last night's Obama rally at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

Something that's neat about a panoramic view is that it cuts through all the stage management.  No one can say well, they arranged the cameras to avoid all the empty seats.  No one can say well, they strategically positioned the crowd to make it look more diverse in terms of race, age, or gender.  What you get is simple reality.

So you can draw your own conclusions.  For my part, I thought it was a pretty impressive turnout, the kind of numbers it usually takes a world-renowned megaband like the Decembrists to generate.  Truth be told, I barely noticed the crowd as I was too focused on all those beautiful Stanley Cup banners.

A little anecdote in the name of comparing and contrasting.  A few weeks ago, my wife and her friends took our little toddlers to the local science center here in New Jersey.  When I asked how it went, she told me it was sort of a hassle because there was a bunch of media and Secret Service on account of John McCain making an appearance the very same day at the very same science center.

Gosh, I said, that timing kind of sucks, was the place too crowded for you guys to do anything?  Actually no, she replied, other than the media it didn't seem like many people were there at all, just the usual groups of schoolkids.

It almost seems unfair when one candidate is filling the Joe Louis Arena while the other candidate can't even fill up the Liberty Science Center.  You wonder if it's too late for the RNC to move their convention from that big arena in St. Paul to, say, the local Knights of Columbus hall.

Tags: Barack Obama, Detroit, Joe Louis Arena (all tags)

Comments

19 Comments

Michigan

Steve - how are you feeling about Obama's chances in Michigan?  If I remember correctly, you have family in the state and were quite concerned about how the primary snafu would affect Obama's performance in the Fall.  

by HSTruman 2008-06-17 07:27AM | 0 recs
Re: Michigan

Conventional wisdom in Michigan is that Democrats win as long as the Detroit turnout is strong.  I think it's obvious that the Detroit turnout in this election will be beyond historic.  If the mayor is still in office, he has a ridiculous grassroots machine - and even if he's not, I'm not sure it matters.

What encourages me more than anything is that Obama seems very popular in the suburbs, where you'll find a lot of Reagan Democrats and a lot of people who have developed a strong distaste for racial politics over the years.  (I wrote about some of these issues in this diary.)  If Obama can win Oakland County, which was 50/50 for Bush/Kerry, coupled with massive turnout in Detroit, it's hard to see him losing statewide.  Michigan has a certain affinity for McCain, but it's hard to imagine him being more popular in the red parts of the state than Bush was in 2004.  About the only thing that could be a game-changer is if Romney is the VP.

I have no read either way on the extent to which the primary debacle will impact the November election.  My sense is that Michigan voters have been far too pummeled by reality to change their minds based on silly process-type stuff, but it's impossible to know for sure.

I see that Intrade has the Democrats as about 70-75% favorites to win Michigan.  That seems about right to me.  I think people get a little too glib in saying that Michigan's weak economy guarantees a Democratic win, but with a strong partisan branding effort on Obama's part, I think they can make it so.

By the way, here are two interesting editorials from yesterday's Free Press on Obama, one positive and one negative.

by Steve M 2008-06-17 07:44AM | 0 recs
Re: Michigan

Thanks - it's always good to get impressions from people familiar with the area.  

by HSTruman 2008-06-17 07:56AM | 0 recs
Re: Michigan

I can tell you that here in Kalamazoo, the demand for Obama yard signs (which we don't have yet) and bumper stickers at the County Party is unprecedented.

Most people I know blame Debbie Dingle, Carl Levin, and--yes--the Governor for the Michigan primary fiasco. However, the Republican-controlled Senate lobbed monkey wrenches at any attempts to fix the problem once it became clear what a bad idea the January 15th primary was.

by lucky monkey 2008-06-17 07:52AM | 0 recs
Re: Michigan

That's interesting as well, thanks.  Is Kalamazoo generally a democratic area?    

by HSTruman 2008-06-17 07:57AM | 0 recs
Re: Michigan

Western Michigan is mostly a GOP stronghold, but I believe Kalamazoo leans a bit towards the Dem side, due in part to being a college town.  Mind you, I didn't exactly have a lawn when I was in college.

by Steve M 2008-06-17 10:06AM | 0 recs
Re: Michigan

The City of Kalamazoo is solidly Dem based (some precincts over 85%) and the county overall went for Kerry, Granholm, Stabenow and I think always goes to Levin. We took control of the County Commission in 2006 as well, despite some serious gerrymandering in 2001 --  we went from 9 to 17 districts, via the same software company who brought you Tom Delay's Texas.

So, yeah, Kalamazoo is a blue county.

by lucky monkey 2008-06-17 03:38PM | 0 recs
liberty science center

fun - the Imax is intense. I always get vertigo walking up to a seat.

by sepulvedaj3 2008-06-17 07:37AM | 0 recs
Re: An Interesting Photo From Last Night's Obama R

Love it.

by LiberalDebunker 2008-06-17 07:38AM | 0 recs
Reminds me of St. Paul

The only seats not filled in St. Paul's Xcel center were the ones directly behind the camera platform and scaffolding.

Granted, they filled the area behind Obama first so that, even if they didn't fill the arena (and have 15K outside watching on the monitor), they would still get a great shot.  Those guys know their business.

by Dracomicron 2008-06-17 07:40AM | 0 recs
Re: An Interesting Photo From Last Night's

But did they throw octupi on the people in the floor seats?

by Mobar 2008-06-17 08:02AM | 0 recs
Poor McCain.

It's kind of sad, but at the same time, not.

by sricki 2008-06-17 08:25AM | 0 recs
Re: An Interesting Photo From Last Night's Obama R

Of course the lingering question is if he is such a rock star then why did Obama barely win the democratic primary?

Which of course goes along with the other lingering question if he is such an agent of change and so inspiring why can't we find the examples of change and inspiration in his senate district in Chicago. Where he served for 8 years.

by Bornagaindem 2008-06-17 08:26AM | 0 recs
Don't insult Hillary

she was a strong opponent.  You should not diminish her by saying it should have been a cakewalk.

by JJE 2008-06-17 08:53AM | 0 recs
that is awesome!

thanks for posting it.

by annatopia 2008-06-17 09:22AM | 0 recs
Re: An Interesting Photo From Last Night's Obama R

World Renown Mega-Band the Decembrists?   Is that Snark ;-)

I mean AT LEAST say the Stones or U2 or Chilli Peppers...

by yitbos96bb 2008-06-17 09:55AM | 0 recs
Re: An Interesting Photo From Last Night's Obama R

It is snark, aimed at all the silly people who thought Obama's rally turnout in Portland was due mostly to the Decembrists.

by Steve M 2008-06-17 10:04AM | 0 recs
Re: An Interesting Photo From ...

Cool photo even though it's still painful to see the inside of that Arena after the Stanley Cup.

by Gene In PA 2008-06-17 10:17AM | 0 recs
Re: An Interesting Photo From ...

I am confident this Pittsburgh team will be hanging multiple banners by the time they're done.  You gotta let us Detroiters have one final day in the sun!  To be honest, growing up in Detroit the Penguins were always my second-favorite team.

Some have compared this year's Pens team to the 1983 Oilers, who were swept in the finals by the Islanders dynasty only to go on to win four of the next five titles.  I wouldn't be surprised.

I always said bringing back the cartoon penguin logo would be good luck!

by Steve M 2008-06-17 10:54AM | 0 recs

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