I was there. Starting about 30 min before El Jefe took stage, while Phil Robertson was speaking, about a thousand 20 something’s with JEB badges filed into the main ballroom. The room went from 80% full to SRO.
There were guides/stewards positioning interns strategically around the room, both to take up all the empty seats and to be able to quickly take the seat of anybody who left.
I wouldn’t have believed the organizational prowess of what I witnessed if I hadn’t seen it for myself.
The applause you hear on tape was every bit as bought and paid for as if it were canned.
I walked out. Just like I will in 2016 if he wins the primary.
Make no mistake, there was serious money involved in making sure he wasn’t embarrased yesterday. I’m sure the organizers of CPAC didn’t mind. The cost of a day’s admission is $125, but candidates can bring in supporters for half of that. A thousand supporters at $67.50 a pop for admission is $67,500 extra dollars for CPAC. That doesn’t even cover the cost of paying for the staff and logistics to make that happen.
Also, each of those interns, with their paid admissions, gets the right to vote in the straw poll. Supposed to be about 10,000 attendees here. That means that el Jefe didn’t just buy his audience for yesterday: he also bought 8-10% of the straw poll results.