How many people at Palin?
I am bemused by the headline on this Burlington Times News piece: "Palin's message delights crowd of 15,000 at Elon"
15,000?
I don't think so. I've seen 15,000 people, I know what that looks like - they don't fit comfortably into a college baseball stadium with room for kids to run around on the grass.
Our story said 2,000, which we got from a police officer and seems consistent with what we saw on the ground. The entire baseball field was open to spectators, but the outfield wasn't full, nor was the infield really.
I would have bought a number up to 5,000, but 15,000? There would still be a traffic jam in Elon if that many folks were there.
Comments (7)
To report abuse of the comment feature on this site, please use the feedback form at the bottom of any page.
Just for more context: Rhodes Stadium (i.e. the football stadium) seats anywhere between 8,000 (according to Elonphoenix.com) and 11,250 (according to Wikipedia, which I think includes the grassy end zone areas).
The capacity of the baseball stadium is 2,000, according to Elonphoenix.com.
I've been to both facilities, and a crowd of 15K would have filled every seat in the football stadium and a big chunk of the field itself.
Posted on October 17, 2008 10:03 AM
Uhhhhh-huh! Hank Williams Jr and Sarah Palin appear - and only 2,000 show up?
Par for the course with the N&R though. I really think you guys should remove "news" from your name though.
Posted on October 17, 2008 10:16 AM
Uhhhhh-huh! Hank Williams Jr and Sarah Palin appear - and only 2,000 show up?
Par for the course with the N&R though. I really think you guys should remove "news" from your name though.
Posted on October 17, 2008 10:18 AM
Her crowd sizes, like her resume and her IQ, are all inflated to make her seem more than she is: a corrupt, mindless, Christian jihadist, whose lawbreaking and cronyism in Wasilla and Anchorage are part and parcel of her belief she's on a "mission from Gawd."
Posted on October 17, 2008 11:01 AM
To see real videos of real women discussing their reactions to Sarah Palin
& the misuse of gender issues in this year's presidential race,
please take a look at the following blog:
www.speakoutonpalin.blogspot.com
Posted on October 17, 2008 11:12 AM
So Mark, since 11,000 tickets were distributed you would have us believe that 45% of the people who waited in line for hours just didn't show up. Another local has stated that at least 10,000 people were there.I agree with one commenter that said if you don't know how to estimate crowds it's safer to say
"thousands" than to show such blatant bias.
Posted on October 23, 2008 2:29 PM
Tony,
I know you have trouble believing this, but our crowd estimate number had nothing to do with bias. Generally after big events, we ask the police, "So, how many people showed up." They give us a number and generally, we go with that.
I will say again, there is no way 10,000 or more people were in that stadium. You would have had to fill up both the outfield and the infield, and neither of those conditions were met.
I will readily concede that an estimate of 5,000 could, in fact, be closer to the mark. But at the time we wrote our stories, that estimate was not forthcoming from either the campaign nor local law enforcement.
Posted on October 23, 2008 2:36 PM