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Ohio is considered one the key battleground states in the upcoming 2008 Presidential election. While the polls are predicting Obama is ahead of McCain in Ohio, the low numbers of supporters at recent Ohio Biden rallies tell a different story: Sarah Palin garnered “thousands” to Biden’s “hundreds” in the same city, three days apart, and how the MSM isn’t reporting the actual number of supporters who show up to hear Biden speak.

Joe Biden’s been on a two-day swing trip through the battleground state of Ohio. DBKP has been curious as to the actual number of voters who’ve shown up to listen to Biden so we took a look at the “numbers” and found some interesting results:

*The MSM hasn’t been reporting the actual number of voters at these events, instead, they’ve relied on “polls”.

*In some cases, far fewer voters are turning up a Biden events versus those who come to hear Sarah Palin speak.

Is it the size of the crowd that counts?

During the course of our research we looked at news reports from the MSM and found them “lacking” in the area of reporting the number of voters who showed up to hear Biden speak.

Yesterday DBKP noted that 1,000 had shown up in Warren, Ohio, to hear Biden and that, according to the MSM, those voters consisted of “high school students” and “union workers”.

On Sunday, Palin spoke to a crowd of supporters that was estimated to be close to 20,000 in St. Clairsville, Ohio, a city just a few miles from the border of West Virginia. Biden showed up on Tuesday and spoke at a location less than two miles from Palin’s rally on Sunday, according to a local news source, the number of supporters who showed up for Biden: in the “hundreds”.

Sarah Palin: Thousands Chant “Coal!” at Palin Stop in Ohio

The AP reported on the Palin rally in St. Clairsville omitting the number of supporters, which was estimated at close to 20,000, instead they chose to continue the meme that Palin’s stump speeches are inciting “hatred” among supporters:

“McCain and his running mate have toned down their attacks on rival Barack Obama. Last Monday, Palin said Obama was “palling around with terrorists.” On Friday, after voters at campaign rallies shouted “terrorist” and “off with his head” toward the stage, McCain called Obama “a decent, family man” whom public shouldn’t fear and cut off a woman who called him an Arab.

On Sunday, one man shouted out “Obama loves terrorists” as Palin talked about “the bad guys.”

Biden spoke today in Lancaster, Ohio. DBKP found where the AP reported on the rally in Lancaster as well as one in Newark, but omitted the actual number of supporters in attendance. We found a source from the Lancaster Eagle Gazette where the event was “live blogged”. Again, no actual numbers mentioned but the remarks from posters were “telling”:

Hi there! Morgan Day here with the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette. We’re about one hour away from the Sen. Joe Biden speech here at the Lancaster Campus of Ohio University.

They didn’t close down any roads for this speech today. I got that info from Lancaster police, who are out there right now working with the Secret Service to make sure things go smoothly.

1:30 Lancaster Police Chief Dave Bailey said the Secret Service didn’t even reveal how Biden’s motorcade was getting through town. If it travels the same route as I did today, Biden might see campaign signs that are … well, not in his favor.

1:33 For every one Obama-Biden campaign sign, I counted five McCain-Palin signs. One gentlemen right beside me, while talking on his cell phone, just said the whole campus would be filled if Sarah Palin made her way to Lancaster. Your take?

1:41 OK, so we’re about 20 minutes away, and to be honest, the crowd is smaller than I expected. People are still trickling in …

1:44 I took a stroll outside and listened to one young man encouraging early voting, which is going on now till the day before the election. I suppose if I stuck around long enough he might have encouraged an Obama-Biden vote.

1:52 They finally got the stand behind Biden’s podium filled. Looks like about 75 people who got the best seat in the house — right behind the podium and right in front of the big, blue “CHANGE” banner.

1:55 Getting closer to showtime and people are wandering in. I can see one woman taking off her Obama button at the security checkpoint. None of that allowed. No banners. No umbrellas, either.

1:57 Here’s one guy in maroon scrubs. And the police chief just arrived, fast food beverage in hand. Things are buzzin’ out here.

Biden’s next stop was Newark OH where, again, we couldn’t find any mention of the actual numbers of those who showed up for the rally by the AP, so we had to rely on the “local” MSM:

According to the Newark Advocate, Biden spoke at the “nearly packed Adena Hall gymnasium” yet gave no actual figures or guess-timates on the numbers:

“NEWARK — The fate of the country lies in the hands of Ohioans, Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden told a cheering crowd here Wednesday.

Biden spoke at a nearly packed Adena Hall gymnasium on the Newark campus of Ohio State University and Central Ohio Technical College, preceded by Gov. Ted Strickland and State Treasurer Richard Cordray.”

We found another article written before Biden’s visit by the Newark Advocate which yielded “clues” as to how many people showed up for Biden’s rally in Newark, Ohio:

“Campus security also is expecting a “small footprint” from Biden and his entourage, Demko said.

A small stretch of University Drive will be blocked off for the senator’s bus, but no intersection will be affected, he said.

Demko said they are estimating 500 people will be inside the gym, which is well below crowds for other major events at the building.”

The paper reported that “twice as many” showed up when the Ohio National Guard’s 211th Maintenance Company returned from Iraq at separate events held at the school’s gym.

The Polls

Survey USA has Obama ahead of McCain in Ohio by 5 points:

“In an election for President of the United States in Ohio today, 10/14/08, Barack Obama captures Ohio’s 20 electoral votes, according to SurveyUSA’s latest poll conducted for WCMH-TV Columbus, WKYC-TV Cleveland, and WHIO-TV Dayton. Interactive tracking graphs, a SurveyUSA exclusive, trace a teeter-totter that tipped in John McCain’s favor when SurveyUSA first polled Ohio mid-September, achieved equilibrium at the end of September, and now tips to Obama mid-October. The numbers: Obama 50%, McCain 45%. A month ago, McCain led, on the strength of a 16-point advantage among white voters. 14 of those 16 points have disappeared, and McCain now leads among whites by 2, effectively even with Obama.”

From Rasmussen:

The only notable change in the horse race results this week come from Ohio where Obama is now on top, 49% to 47%. For each of the previous two weeks, McCain was up by a point in the Buckeye State after enjoying larger leads earlier this fall. The race for Ohio’s 20 Electoral College votes is now well within the margin of sampling error but trending towards the Democrat.”

DBKP cannot predict who will win the election yet according to the polls, Obama is favored to win the state of Ohio, in fact, Obama is now rumored to win across the nation “by a landslide”. For those voters who feel their vote “may not count” so “what’s the use” in voting, DBKP has this advice:

Polls aside, it’s not over till the Fat Lady sings, so get out and vote.

By LBG

Image - Crowded Phonebooth