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In the past three days Obama and Oprah teamed up to lure 50,000 Americans away from everyday duties, TV and on-line pursuits, and into the company of their fellow citizens to be inspired. How many did Hillary, Bill, Mrs. Rodham and Chelsea lure out in that same time period? In any three day period in that past year?
Given the media's fascination with numbers--particulary polls--it seems like that would be a good number to report. A couple of newspapers reported that Hillary drew about 250 folks in Iowa while Obama was drawing 10,000. So what is the tally for the whole weekend? Not a fair comparison? Ok, what was Hillary's best weekend ever? What was Obama's second best weekend?
It seems to me that there might be some correlation between the number of people who will get in their car and drive somewhere to see a candidate and the number of people who will get in their car and go to the polls.
Ultimately, isn't this the secret of the all-powerful evangelical vote? A group of people accustomed to assembling amongst their fellow citizens to get fired up and ready to go?
I predict that the primary elections will demonstrate that the number of people willing to get in their cars and attend an event is a far better indicator of support than the number of people willing to answer the phone and respond to questions.
