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Seats For Obama's Convention Speech At Stadium Snapped Up In One Day
Wow. From the Denver Post:
Colorado's tickets to see Barack Obama's acceptance speech at Invesco Field at Mile High were more than spoken for within about 24 hours, officials said, and the application process closed Thursday for all but those willing to be put on a waiting list.Obama's campaign set aside for Colorado half of the more than 60,000 seats available to the public for the final night of the Democratic National Convention. It turns out the battleground state could have filled the stadium, as the campaign ended applications after collecting more than 60,000 Thursday afternoon.
The last presidential candidate to deliver his acceptance speech in a stadium only managed to fill half the venue, and his name was John F. Kennedy.
Thanks to TPM Reader MA for sending this one in.
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Celebrities sell out stadiums in less than a day all of the time.
August 8, 2008 12:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is clearly good news for McCain.
August 8, 2008 1:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Chanelling Davis: "You see, you see, he's popular! We told you that he's a 'celebrity'!"
August 8, 2008 12:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
If the GOP attack this point, and they surely will, Obama's people should answer "Obama sells out stadiums whereas McCain sells out to Big Oil."
August 8, 2008 12:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nice.
August 8, 2008 1:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
60,000 seats sold out.
Goddamn I wish the pearl twisters and nervous nellies would read this and shut the fuck up already.
The man raised $52 million dollars in one 30-day period and sold out 60,000 seats for a fucking speech!
August 8, 2008 12:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Geez. From lips to snarxson's ears....
August 8, 2008 12:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sigh. That should read, "From your lips to snarxson's ears..."
I'll be accused of being a McCain plant for saying that.
August 8, 2008 12:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Never!
We know our friends, CT. :)
August 8, 2008 12:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
No way!!! Pete and Stash are NOT McLame plants.
August 8, 2008 1:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Apparently to some, Pete is.
August 8, 2008 1:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
NO WAY! We Tuxes stick together, for Obama! ;)
August 8, 2008 1:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nice! Tuxedo Cats for Obama!
August 8, 2008 1:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes. ;)
August 8, 2008 1:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
I love it.
I also happen to know where there is a 3d tuxedo online, who is supporting Obama. At least I would imagine that Atrios' cats are Obama supporters.
August 8, 2008 3:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Barack's speech to 70,000 worshippers in Mile High will no doubt be used in more GOP ads ostensibly about his showy celebrity but with an antichrist subtext.
August 8, 2008 12:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Who the fuck cares?
There are at least 60,000 people who don't believe the bullshit. If y'all are so hell bent to speculate the worst - let me speculate the best here -
The so-called "low information voters" y'all worry about are the very people who will decide at the last minute to vote for Obama because they want to be part of history.
Ok? Shallow people vote for shallow reasons - and that's a better shallow reason than: "O he's just a celebrity."
August 8, 2008 12:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's not shallow. I thought part of running for President was establishing an emotional connection with voters.
Isn't part of being a leader being able to move public opinion? Isn't that one of the major reasons why the Presidencies of Lincoln, FDR, and Reagan were much more successful than that of Carter, George H.W. Bush, and the current occupant of the White House?
I just don't understand why the media hasn't asked this of John McCain.
August 8, 2008 1:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Perhaps sometimes it is the voter's job to connect also. To see the validity of an argument, to recognize a truthful candidate and to recognize the love of country in a man like Obama.
Voters who are sitting around crying about how they were not connected to, are shallow.
August 8, 2008 1:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
70,000 cult members. 70,000 dupes. Do these people really have no respect for the stature a nominee has in his/her party?
August 8, 2008 1:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
When JFK half-filled the stadium, there were about 120,000,000 fewer Americans. I bet if he were around today and had a MyJFK.com website, he would fill the stadium in a day, too.
August 8, 2008 12:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, you might have set up a good response for the Obama campaign.
Sort of like when Hillary criticized his speeches as mere words and Barack did his righteous "Just words?" thing.
Maybe have some ads showing the adoring crowds that fawned over JFK and Ronald Reagan and have the narrator ask if Senator McCain thought those people's hopes and dreams were worthless, too.
Barack's response shouldn't be an attack on McCain himself but rather his implication that movements don't mean anything when in fact they have the power to lift the country.
August 8, 2008 1:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Which would be a great set-up for the "I knew Ronald Reagan, and you Sir, are no Ronald Reagan" responses.
August 8, 2008 1:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wouldn't be hard to respond since even the staunchest McCain supporters agree that he's no Reagan himself.
August 8, 2008 1:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, I don't think that will resonate well with everyone. Haven't people already attached both names to the persona-president problem, with Reagan as Hollywood president and JFK... well, for him, I can't help but think of Hersh's "Dark Side of Camelot."
August 8, 2008 1:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'll date myself and recall that at age 9, in the October before his election, I saw JFK from the fifth row, in a huge packed armory, just outside New York City. No grainy film from the era could remotely convey how electrifying the atmosphere was. If he were around today it would be explosive. Nobody since has had that energy in person. People went insane.
August 8, 2008 3:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama should use the fact that it took 24 hours to sell out the place as proof that he's not a celebrity. Britney Spears, Hannah Montana and even Jay-Z regularly sell their events out in less than 30 minutes.
August 8, 2008 12:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Can't believe I'm saying this, but THAT was funny, BK.
August 8, 2008 12:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, I have to co-sign that.
You can't be as dumb as you seem - not and make a remark that witty.
August 8, 2008 1:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Are you advising McCain's campaign too? It sure looks like it.
August 8, 2008 1:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have to give props to BK as well, the man has a point..
August 8, 2008 1:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Plus Brittney and Hannah tickets actually cost money...
August 8, 2008 1:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
you don't speak for the seventh cav, skippy. stop demeaning our forces by spewing trolljizz
from behind their colors.
August 8, 2008 6:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
How long before these tickets start appearing on eBay? It'll be interesting to see how much they go for!
August 8, 2008 1:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
I really hope tickets don't show up on EBAY. Convention tickets going for thousands of dollars on EBAY would send a bad image. Basically feeding back into the GOP celebrity attack echo chamber.
Look at the outrage the Hannah Montana concert sparked. Hysterical parents selling their souls just to get their kids tixs. Replace the hysterical parents with Hysterical Obama supporters and the imagery isn't good.
August 8, 2008 1:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
2 Democratic Convention Speech Tickets Barack Obama Thu
2 tickets to see the "Biggest Celebrity in the World"
$2,300.00
delivery Free 6d 21h 42m to end of auction
August 8, 2008 4:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
I hope I get a back stage pass for my donations....(I can dream; can't I?)
Obama's speech with the crowd will amaze America and drive McFuddle bonkers! How will McFuddle follow that??? No doubt he will inspire at best 367 people!
August 8, 2008 1:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Me too.
Yeah, I succumbed.
Of course, if I got to meet Obama, I'd probably go tharn.
(now I can't wait to see who gets that reference.)
August 8, 2008 1:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Tena, are you going?
OMG! Will you live blog?
August 8, 2008 1:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Not as far as I know, Evainne.
I mean, I guess I could still hear something - but I doubt it. I just donated before the deadline because of McLame, actually. But the dealine was for a free ticket to see Obama backstage in Denver.
I don't think I'm going.
August 8, 2008 3:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Watership Down" Teena!
August 8, 2008 4:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Excellent Jonze!
Colorado might be a swing state this year, but historically it is a RED state. To score among the Colorado populace like that is a big deal.
August 8, 2008 1:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Celebrity
August 8, 2008 1:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Populism
August 8, 2008 1:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
A nation deep in Hope!
August 8, 2008 1:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
...and change...
August 8, 2008 1:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Who does he think he is? Puff Daddy?
August 8, 2008 1:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
yeah! 'cos the last thing we want in a presidential candidate is popularity!!!!!
August 8, 2008 1:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Boy, ain't that the truth.
Let me think - popular Repug presidents. Hmmm - Reagan, Eisenhower - that's about all I can come up with for the years since Roosevelt was king.
(you know, I used to love the man. But I have different view of him since Commander CooCoo Bananas came along and used a lot of the same tactics that FDR used to get around Congress and the courts.)
August 8, 2008 1:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Before he took over the reins of power, W was pretty popular as well.
August 8, 2008 1:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama needs an I-tunes release.
With his celebrity popularity, the downloads from around the world, just might re-energize the economy.
August 8, 2008 1:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Couldn't find anyone selling tickets on ebay. Found someone on craigslist offering $3,050 for two tickets to hear Obama acceptance speech.
Although it's not the convention, I have the opportunity to see and hear Barack and Michelle Obama today in Hawaii, "where Barack will talk about his vision for bringing America together and creating the kind of change we can believe in."
How cool is that?!
August 8, 2008 1:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hell, it's cool enough just to be in Hawaii!
August 8, 2008 2:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hmm, I have never known a 'celebrity' (has Brad and Angie ever packed the house??) to sell out stadiums, but rock stars on the other hand....
August 8, 2008 1:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
I hear Hannah Montana is opening for him and then accepting the VP offer.
August 8, 2008 1:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
No, she is not! She's just cold.
Take some asprin... ;)
August 8, 2008 1:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's an obvious racial slur, Hannah Montana is a young white girl, well I know she's not real...but if she were she would be...so this would be racist in a Supertopsecretcoded way if it were real...I mean, if she were real...I think... Lux...help me out here...
August 8, 2008 2:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
again, you don't speak for the seventh cav.
stop demeaning our forces by spewing trolljizz
from behind their colors.
August 8, 2008 6:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Campaign will deactivate any tickets to be found being sold on-line.
August 8, 2008 1:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Who? Damn shame you even know who that is.
August 8, 2008 1:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
You know, you're the most negative, glass half-empty person I've seen in a while.
I bet you're a blast at a party: "yes, the music is great and the food is delicuous but tomorrow I'll have a ache from so much dancing and I'll gain two pounds."
August 8, 2008 2:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain can't fill an Applebee's. Poor guy.
August 8, 2008 2:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, but at least McCain would be at ease at Applebee's ample salad bar alongside all those DHL employees he essentially laid off. I, for one, would much prefer to have a beer with McCain, so I don't see what all the fuss is over some self-made young Senator who's clearly more grounded and intelligent and, well, human. We're electing a Commander-in-Chief, after all, not just some President. Obama needs to wait his turn (i.e., 26 years) and stop being so arrogant and elitist. He's started acting like the job ought go to the person best qualified for the job, and I know I'm not the only thinking that comes across as the opposite of downity. Heck, his advisers aren't even in cahoots with Georgian secessionists or Colombian monopolies. What good will he be on the world stage?
August 10, 2008 12:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
August 8, 2008 2:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, but they're busier now that the McCain campaign figured out that they can just show up at events where there'll be lots of people. Really tho, the empty Sausage Haus in Pennsylvania was definitely more indicative of the enthusiasm surrounding McCain's campaign.
August 8, 2008 6:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Obama is more popular than me"
Gee, I wonder why?
August 8, 2008 3:04 PM | Reply | Permalink