Posted on 09/01/2012 6:09:04 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Obama campaign says it will fill stadium for convention’s finale By Amie Parnes - 09/01/12 06:00 AM ET
Team Obama promises it will fill every one of the seats in Charlotte’s mammoth football stadium Thursday night when President Obama closes the Democratic National Convention with a speech accepting his party’s nomination.
For weeks, Democrats have been concerned about filling Bank of America Stadium, home to the NFL’s Carolina Panthers. They feared a devastating image of an enthusiasm gap if Obama spoke to empty upper decks at the venue.
But the Obama campaign says it’s got it covered, and that all 73,778 of the stadium’s seats will be spoken for. The campaign also insists this success will showcase a ground operation that will help Obama win North Carolina for a second cycle in a row this November.
“We’re confident we’ll be full,” Jen Psaki, the traveling Obama press secretary, told The Hill late last week. “We have a great ground operation in North Carolina and we’ve registered more voters than any other state.
“Our goal is to leave North Carolina better than we came in,” Psaki added.
Obama set himself up for a challenge when he decided to recreate the image that closed his 2008 convention — an address to a packed, enthusiastic crowd at Denver’s Invesco Field.
This speech comes four years into Obama’s presidency, and in the midst of a slow economy that is the Republican ticket’s No. 1 argument for replacing the Democratic president.
Obama’s supporters say the most pivotal part of Thursday night’s event is the president’s speech and not the optics and spectacle surrounding it, but they acknowledge a partially-filled stadium would give Republicans more fodder in a state where Romney leads in most polls.
“This isn’t 2008 and this isn’t Colorado,” said one former administration official. “And I think the fear is that the campaign aimed too high on this one. After all, this is a southern state, which leans red and only helped Obama win in 2008 by very slim margins.
Steve Elmendorf, who served as deputy campaign manager for John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign, acknowledged that filling the stadium is a “challenge.”
“They’re taking on something that’s hard to do,” Elmendorf said. “And they’re doing it in a state that isn’t one of their core states. But I give them credit for trying.”
Late last month, a slew of tickets were still available for the acceptance speech at the stadium.
In an attempt to fill the empty seats, Team Obama put in place a “9-3-1” program that would provide supporters with one ticket to the acceptance speech after they volunteered for nine hours over three shifts, an effort it says will expand its grassroots.
Last week, credentials were handed out on a first come, first served basis, a campaign official said, with North Carolinians across the state having the opportunity to line up to receive a credential.
“Demand for these credentials was truly amazing,” the campaign official said. “Tens of thousands of North Carolinians received credentials, making this truly the most open and accessible convention in history.”
While the campaign won’t say how many tickets for the speech have been handed out to date, they say credential distribution has ended for the time being, with the caveat that anyone in the state who is still interested in attending can sign up through the “I’m there” program to know if and when additional seats will be given out.
Republicans say they don’t have any doubt that Team Obama will fill the stadium to the rafters but that the efforts will be contrived.
“The rule is standing-room-only,” said Ken Lundberg, a GOP strategist. “The campaign knows that, and there’s no question they will fill the stadium. If they have to bus union groups from Miami, New York and Kalamazoo into Charlotte, that’s what they’ll do.”
Several union officials and others close to labor say they hadn’t heard anything about busing in union members to help fill seats for the speech.
But Lundberg added that the “key indicator that night will be energy.
“People at the closing speech are the president’s strongest supporters; if their enthusiasm is anything short of the night Obama first won the office, that’s a clear sign of trouble,” he said.
Campaign officials say they are guaranteeing a memorable final night in the swing state.
“President Obama’s speech on the final night of the convention will be truly be historic, and we are so glad that so many North Carolinians will be there,” one campaign official said.
The Charlotte lap-dancing industry is about to get a shot in the arm.
Obama put more houses under water than Hurricane Isaac!
I don’t care if they fill the stadium, so long as we fill the voting booths.
“We have a great ground operation in North Carolina and we’ve registered more voters, DEAD OR ALIVE, than any other state.”
Fixed.
As an incumbent president, this really shouldn’t be that hard. It’s probably a bad sign for him that he even needs to make this declaration. It’s a far cry from the energy and self-confidence his campaign exuded in 2008.
Public school teachers taking their entire class, and calling it a “field trip”, and college professors giving class credit for attendance by their students.
Is this the one they were giving away tickets in bars for?
Hey, how about giving the homeless some free food and ooze if hey show up.
ooze = booze
Just looked at google maps. One or two well placed accidents would ensure a half full stadium. I know that sounds like lefty antics but hey, they do it all the time, right?
I must remember to invest in human cardboard cut out companies on Monday.
Scattered thnderstorms are in the forecast for the entire week...they had better be handing out umbrellas with the pints of Mad Dog and generic cigarettes to the attendees...
It would be great to see the Tea Party show up with extra ‘empty chairs’ for the overflow...
All they need to do is offer section 8 housing vouchers ans EBT cards...
Crash dummies and mannequins?
I don’t ever remember watching the Democrat Communist Convincion but will check in at times on this one..I want to watch the morons with their evil speechs..It will make me very angry but I want to see what really sends them back to hell..
Collecting illegals crossing in Arizona?
30% chance of showers and thunderstorms for Charlotte on Thursday. That is still quite a few days away, and in that time forecasts change for the better...or the worse.
But even if it does rain, Elizabeth “Pinnochohontas” Warren will be there. She’ll probably plagiarize an anti-rain dance and make it all sunny again.
Im’ sure Obama’s stadium will be full - full of shit
Perhaps they will show this documentary to the crowd.
“The Hope and The Change” documentary soon to be televised nationally.
http://thehopeandthechange.com/index.html
More proof of how important democrats style over substance is ....
There aren’t 73,000 DNC delegates....isn’t this a convention...
Who in there right mind would want to sit though ANOTHER Obama speech even if you are a supporter...
I bet the DNC leadership is praying for rain so they have a built in excuse when the stadium is half filled..
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