Anyone else catch the analyst on kgw stating how he thought Kerry campaign was really setting itself up for failure by predicting 25,000? He went on to say how it would be a resounding success if 10,000 showed up.

You would have expected them to be virtually shitting themselves on air once it exceeded thirty, but of course, they were too busy showing us Bush conversing with a fella who's company had expanded over the pass four years, creating jobs... making tortillas in canada.

It's not just 18-24. My 16-year-old sister and about six of her friends, with no prompting from me, were just about dying with anticipation for the rally. They talk about the Johns like they are movie stars.

I'm not sure why the Oregonian refuses to print crowd estimates, but it appears to be some sort of newsroom policy. I worked on the Dalai Lama's appearance at Pioneer Courthouse Square in 2001, where the police estimated we had an attendance of 20,000 to 25,000. For some unknown reason, the Oregonian reporter (and her editor) writing about the event would not print the police estimate, having deemed it too large. (Why they thought the police would overestimate a crowd number was a mystery to me.)

The O eventually settled on reporting a crowd size of 12,000, a number picked entirely out of the air and one that did not do justice to the crowd's size.

Just discovered this site, its kinda like finding that out of the way restaurant that will hopefully become your weekend breakfast place.

Anyhow, what I was amazed by was this piece (http://news.statesmanjournal.com/Risser.cfm) by David Risser with the Statesman Journal. While he does seem to accept fault for their layout decisions regarding the Kerry Rally (Bush was prominent above the fold and on the front page of the Business section the day after the dual visit to the state) he also sells the myth that the rally was a rock concert.

Here's an snipit

"On the second issue, as some Kerry supporters have it, the record “voluntary” turnout for the senator from Massachusetts and the “invitation-only” turnout for Bush demand equal billing, if not greater billing for the Kerry event.

I don’t buy it.

After getting huge notice as the only presidential candidate visiting Oregon on Thursday, Kerry and his supporters had a public rock concert on the riverfront in a hugely Democratic city. A lot of people showed up. Go figure."

Talk about an understatement. I think one of the major reasons people don't get as involved in politics is that actions such as these are rearely about them. When 50,000 people come together on a week day it should be at least worth noting. I mean, that's pretty impressive.

That isn't to say that our critiques of journalism are always right on but, in this case the framing of the event showed either a complete lack of knowledge of Oregon's recent political history or a lack of interest in the people who are making this election year work.