Kamala Harris 2020 campaign megathread

[Adam Griffin]

[Adam Griffin]

Oh wow! A 2/3rd full townhall in a small South Carolina town? Bury her 6-feet under!

You're gonna ignore the other packed town halls she's had?

I mean...

Harris spoke to a crowd of at least 200 inside the Charleston Area Convention Center where entrepreneurs, community organizations and government agencies gathered for the Charleston Black Expo, an economic empowerment event that is in its 20th year.

So not only was it held in the state's third largest city (which is literally adjacent to the state's second-largest city), but she already had guaranteed foot-traffic coming to the facility for a separate event that was basically custom-tailored for her.

Stacey Abrams got more than 200 people to come see her in Dalton, GA, for frig's sake.

[Adam Griffin]

Oh wow! A 2/3rd full townhall in a small South Carolina town? Bury her 6-feet under!

You're gonna ignore the other packed town halls she's had?

I mean...

Harris spoke to a crowd of at least 200 inside the Charleston Area Convention Center where entrepreneurs, community organizations and government agencies gathered for the Charleston Black Expo, an economic empowerment event that is in its 20th year.

So not only was it held in the state's third largest city (which is literally adjacent to the state's second-largest city), but she already had guaranteed foot-traffic coming to the facility for a separate event that was basically custom-tailored for her.

Stacey Abrams got more than 200 people to come see her in Dalton, GA, for frig's sake.

So it wasn't even a campaign event. It's just atlas digging again.

Every event a presidential candidate attends is a campaign event. It was her third and final event for the time being in SC, and she was asked to be the headline speaker. I highly doubt the event organizers wanted to shun people who wouldn't otherwise come to such an event, I highly doubt her campaign didn't promote it via email and social media to targeted voters in the area, and I also highly doubt that room availability would be an issue at a convention center. If anything, it's even sadder considering that the vast majority of people who were there were probably already going to come whether she showed or not.

The crowd size argument has been faulty for a long time now, yet people still keep using it. Certain candidates (like Trump) have obsessed fans who will spend thousands of dollars to follow them anywhere which can skew overall attendance numbers.

This argument largely only works in the reverse; i.e. "a large crowd doesn't necessarily mean broad-based support". A small crowd almost always means weak support (obviously).

Obama blasted through Hillary, Trump blasted through his GOP competitors and even no-name Bernie managed to give Hillary a run for her money in 2016: their crowd sizes were a good indicator of what was to transpire, because their support was palpable elsewhere. Somebody like Ron Paul was a different story.

[Adam Griffin]

You literally proved nothing...

I'm not the one with s[inks]tty crowd sizes, so I really don't have to prove anything. Candidates who don't pack rooms don't have tangible broad-based support - that's just a fact. Here's another: if you have public, open-to-the-press events and don't put in the proper communications and event planning work to get people there, your campaign sucks.

How strange...

(Population of St. George is literally 2K btw)

I'm sure all of those in attendance came from the one square mile of real estate that is St. George, SC. This is 1750 after all, and people don't travel more than one hour's distance via horse and buggy!

What's unfortunate is the misleading characterization you're making about a completely different event; the 150 or so that showed up in a random rural Black Belt town is obviously much more impressive than the other (especially given the pop density of the area). Still, barely cracking 3 digits at events as a presidential candidate around an early voting state that is demographically your most favorable and when you have the state all to yourself is just sad.

[Adam Griffin]

You’re grasping at straws here. She had a campaign launch attended by 22K people, she’s been packing town halls, and she doesn’t manage to fill an event she didn’t headline.

Getting a good crowd on your home turf isn't exactly impressive - especially when the bulk of the establishment is lining up behind you. I'd certainly hope any viable presidential contender would be able to draw a crowd in their own city/major metro area; otherwise what's the point? After that one event, since when has she drawn respectable crowd sizes? Maybe the reason she's having "town halls" is to obscure the reality of the situation. No real excuse for arguably the second best-funded candidate at the moment if enthusiasm isn't a factor. Unless...



When you're half-filling SBC-sized luncheon rooms in a state where a disproportionate share of your likely coalition resides, in a state where you're the only game in town at the moment and in the state where your path to the nomination likely begins/ends, it's not good. There's no other way to spin it. Wait until Biden jumps in: he'll get 1-5k crowds in SC with 24 hours notice, whether his campaign organizes the event or not.

[Adam Griffin]

Never bring family or close friends into your campaign. That's like a cardinal rule.