Not such a great day for President Obama:
Glenn Reynolds reports, CONTRAST WITH THOSE LONG LINES FOR ROMNEY-RYAN: “At Obama fundraiser in Chicago. Admission only $51, but room is half full.” The Obama camp later claimed the event was sold out, but the New York Times reporter still noted that, sold out or not, the room looked about half full in a follow-up tweet.
But a magical weekend for Mitt Romney:
Robert Stacy McCain, in a longer piece wrapping up the Manassas, Virginia campaign stop Saturday, notes:
The next polls you see out of Virginia . . . Well, look, the “gender gap” will evaporate instantly now that Paul Ryan’s on the ticket. Trust me on this — chicks dig him. It was like Sinatra with a crowd of bobby soxers at the Paramount in 1944. Elvis at the Overton Park bandshell in Memphis in 1956. Total swoonsville.
Matthew Weaver at NoQuarter, also reporting on the Romney/Ryan campaign stop in Manassas, Virginia, sees a very real difference in Romney.
Back in February I had the opportunity to listen to Romney as part of an overflow crowd of nearly 1,000 gathered at a Tysons Corner, Virginia, event hosted by the Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC), the largest technology council in the nation. At that event, Romney was, to be blunt, rather underwhelming, dry, and uninspiring. Personally speaking, he was very disappointing. Back then, he fit the caricature promoted by the media.
Today, though, a very different Romney spoke to this many-times-larger crowd. He spoke with emotion, clarity, and purpose. Some of the crowd stretching to put eyes on Romney and Ryan reminded me of classic Americana drawings by Norman Rockwell.
The best lines today are the same ones we’ve already heard, lines that will not lose their sharpness and urgency through overuse or short news cycles. The crowd roared with approval when Romney skewered Obama for suggesting that Americans didn’t deserve credit for their success.
All that was before the massive homecoming in Wisconsin for Ryan (shown in the photo above) on Sunday night.
It’s pretty clear that the Ryan selection has re-energized Mitt Romney personally. I’m actually reminded of John Kerry’s selection of John Edward as far as the energizing factor goes. Unfortunately that didn’t work out for Kerry, so let’s hope for a better outcome this time. But while the injection of youthful energy into the campaign is great, Romney needs to make sure he doesn’t take things too far. Who can forget this:
