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The DNC Committee's announcement this morning that Obama's speech was being moved from Bank of America Stadium to Time Warner Cable Arena is what Obama's young supporters would call a buzzkill. Thousands had volunteered for Obama's campaign for hours, and thousands more stood in line for many hours, to secure a ticket to the stadium. Thanks for the effort, guys, but ... never mind.
The DNCC cited the potential for severe weather. Weather.com predicts the skies will be partly cloudy at 10 p.m. Thursday, with a 20 percent chance of rain. It's never higher than 30 percent from 4 p.m. on.
What did organizers think the chance of rain would be on a September evening in Charlotte when they decided to put the Obama event at the stadium in the first place? Zero?
It seems to be part of a pattern by the DNCC: Make big plans, then scale them back. First it was the Monday event at the Speedway being reeled in. Now this.
Republicans are speculating that organizers moved the event because they couldn't fill the stadium and didn't want the embarrassment of Obama talking to empty seats. Highly unlikely. Democratic officials say they gave out 65,000 credentials and had 19,000 more on a waiting list. They say they would have been turning people away, and there's no evidence they wouldn't have.
No, this isn't about lack of Democratic enthusiasm. But given this treatment, it might soon be.
- Taylor Batten
Photo: Work at Bank of America stadium was continuing Wednesday morning up to time that the speech was moved to Time Warner Cable Arena. Photo by MARK HAMES
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23 comments:
Ever think the Demo officials might just have exaggerated their "free credentials" numbers there, Taylor?
I think they just realized those 30,000 dead people on the voter rolls wouldn't be showing up.
I don't see how people can say it wouldn't have been full...I've been trying for weeks to find some way to get a credential (including volunteering at the convention) and there were none to be had. I even heard from people who stood in line for hours just to have them run out of credentials. So I can't imagine that's the problem. However, I do think this is going to be disappointing to a LOT of people and was a bad move on the part of the DNC.
They didn't want Bev Perdue to melt.
all those folks they were going to "bus in"...instead of telling them to not come, they could stand outside and clamor to "get in" and there's no room in the smaller space and then the DNC could say "we had sooooo many show up, just not enough room..." etc...and have their golden one go around shaking hands/photo opping all over the place.
I guess this is as close to being critical of the the Democratic party as Taylor can be.
Weather.com currently reports "chance of rain" in Charlotte at 40%. Given last nights weather (rain) here in Charlotte, I wouldn't bet millions of dollars on it NOT raining at the arena tonight, either.
Gosh people are so negative. Well I fuss that's the Romney campaign, bank a run on hate and not positive ideas. Lets even blame Obama for the rain!! The biggest mistake the Dems made was going to that city in the first place. With comments like these, it won't happen again! Say goodbye to all those $ for your local economy my hateful negative GOP friends! LOL!
First off, it is a FACT that there were more people that wanted to get in than their were tickets, so dont believe for a second the lie that was started by the Republicans. Seriously, don't be so ignorant that you'll believe that the GOP knew more about the ticket holders for a Democratic Convention event than the Democrats themselves did. Did the Democrats say last week that the GOP cancelled the first night of the RNC because they didn't have enough people to fill the arena? No, it was because of weather and the CHANCE it could be worse. Ultimately the weather wasn't as bad for the canceled night as it could have been but they were taking precautions. Neither Romney or Obama can control the weather.
Secondly, basing your entire article on a 30 second scan of the forecast on a website versus the up to the minute details of human meteorologists that can calculate potential worse case scenarios for a stadium setting with 65,000 people is called POOR Journalism. Your job is to report the news; if you want to be an investigative reporter, then Investigate the whole story, not just a glance at a website. The DNC was given information of a chance of high winds, hail, and cloud to ground lightening. The chance was not high, but why would you take the chance at all? Even a small chance of severe weather, when you have 65,000 people in an outdoor stadium is not worth the risk. The logistical and security challenges of evacuating 65,000 people within a small time frame would be overwhelming and virtually impossible. I don't blame the DNC for thinking about the safety of all of those who were attending. It's definitely disappointing for the event, but it's not a risk that should be taken for a speech.
The evidence they couldnt fill the stadium is supported by the President's stop at UNC a few months back. They brought the Dave Matthews Band and couldnt even get students to show up on their own campus.
Sad, sad, sad. Does this mean the Panthers won't play at home this year?
What's the big deal. We already know what the speech is. Fair Shot, Fair share. Fair Shake. The GOP is going to kill your grandmother, keep women barefoot and pregnant, destroy the middle class and give tax breaks to the wealthy. Bla Bla Bla.
The only people who believe this crap anyway are the same ones who have such cult like idolatry worship to go watch a man they won't even be able to see well on a stage from a distance in a 70,000 seat stadium.
They blew it alright. Mr. Kerrigan sends the message that we are afraid of the POTENTIAL for a little rain. He needs to man-up.
Jo Faulk...
This is the sort of thing that takes you folks off the rail. Failing to read. Yes, Weather.com on their initial page shows the rain chance at 40% but that is for the entire day. The President will speak about 10PM and if you bother to look at the hourly forecast you will see that the rain chance starts at 40% in the morning and begins declining around mid-afternoon. By 4PM it's 30% and by 10PM it shows 10%.
THAT was the point of the story. The weather is expected to clear long before the event was scheduled to begin.
" 915686be-f789-11e1-ab51-000bcdcb8a73 said...
Even a small chance of severe weather, when you have 65,000 people in an outdoor stadium is not worth the risk."
If that were true there would BE no outdoor sporting events at all! That's just nonsense. I've been listening to those live meteoroligists all day and everyone I've heard has said the same thing, that the atmosphere will stabilize as the day progresses and that the risk of rain/storms will diminish by evening.
BTW... just for your information... this is the OPINION page and it is NOT reserved for "reporting the news" but for saying "what you think". Treating what you read here like news is akin to the people who confused Tina Fey's SNL routines with things that Sarah Palin actually said! But then, Dems did a lot of that too!
So the sycophants at the Observer buy it hook line and sinker that they "gave out" 65000 credentials and to whom may I ask?
Joke is you on really smart voters, over and over again.
I now know why the weather is foul: Jesse Jackson is in town.
Calm down, I'm just pulling your chains.
Seriously though - I can't blame the DNC for changing the venue. Just because the weather geeks say it won't be raining doesn't mean that it won't. Several times this summer, I took no umbrella to work becuase there was only a 20% chance of rain, only to be caught in a monsoon as I walked from my bus stop to my home.
It's all about Murphy's Law. If they left the big speech in B of A, not only would it have poured, but lightning would have struck and killed some people. They decided to move it, so it won't rain. That's how Murphy operates.
It's much more important to consider the message the speech will deliver - the usual "if you vote for my opponent, he will attempt to kill you and everything you love, and I, and only I, can give you a perfect, trouble-free life." Same message as last Thursday.
Why did it have to be cancelled today (especially at 10 am) is my question? Would they have made people any less angry had they waited until tomorrow morning, to get the most updated forecast? People would have still been put out, but at least it would have appeared that every effort was given.
I would be highly upset if I were one of those people holding the "credential", a member of the Carolina Panthers' organization, or a Charlotteanne on a great scale. This whole DNC is not going to live up to the hype and that is truly a shame.
Obviously it is not the DNC, it's charloot, always with the big plans and then the big let down.
I'm one of the 19,000... And i agree this was stupid. The chance for lightning is high and that might be the reason this was moved inside. There may also be a high security threat. Given the noise on the Right, it wouldn't surprise me....look at what just happened in Quebec.
Seriously people? The best the Right wing extremists can do is politicize the weather? The GOP cancels an entire day of their convention in the interest of the safety of the people...albeit mostly comatose already....but the threat for lightning istriking people in an outdoor stadium is OK? Must be because they are not comatose Republican zombies.
P.s. the event starts at 1pm with live music.
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