In a town of 8,000, 2,000 show up to hear Bernie.

[Fawke Em]

Decorah, Iowa: Bringing down the house!





https://twitter.com/IAStartingLine/status/691334953636745216

[azmom]

1. Beautiful.

[snagglepuss]

2. YAY

[Nanjeanne]

3. Awesome

[longship]

4. Holy shit!

That's a big crowd.

Go Bernie, go!

[fredamae]

5. Respect! Wow! "My Fellow Americans" :) n/t

[Fawke Em]

6. I also see a wide variety of age groups represented.

And no pop stars!

[SheilaT]

7. Decorah!

Isn't that where we get to watch bald eagles grow up every year?

[Fawke Em]

20. Yep.

http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles

[draa]

8. But he's losing damnit. He really is.

Not just in Iowa but everywhere...


I swear, people HATE him...


Trust me, he's losing badly...


If only he had some support...
?

Then again, maybe it's Clinton who lacks support.

[retrowire]

11. boom. nt

[draa]

29. There was something missing when I searched through pics of candidates crowds.

For some reason you rarely see a shot of a Clinton crowd from a distance. It's usually a tight pic that has people in it but you just don't see wide shots of her events.

I didn't set out to looking for that but it was something that dawned on me while doing those searches. If I didn't know better I'd say that was intentional. Or, she just doesn't have the support they claim. Either way I found it odd.

[Fawke Em]

31. I ran into the same thing.

And I WAS looking for pics of her crowds.

Can't find a wide shot other than of her announcement.

[draa]

35. Yeah, it's a bit strange.

For someone who's supposed to have millions of supporters there's not many at her events.

[Fawke Em]

38. Here's one.

The site says this was in New Hampshire in September.



Not sure of the source. Just posting what I can find.

[draa]

40. I'll defer to your gif on that.

No way they'd be lying to people about her support. Nope. Not at all.

[creatives4innovation]

63. Ho hum

That's an enthusiastic bunch! I've seen others that show things like a large hall with a small roped off area where Clinton's speaking and a completely empty overflow area with a massive jumbotron, and not a single soul in sight. Another memorable photo was of some union guys in specially made Hillary shirts that looked liked they'd just eaten a sack of lemons. I assume they were required to wear the shirts and attend the rally.

[draa]

66. That photo of the labor guys made the rounds on DU.

They didn't look very happy either lol. I don't see the support that she claims to have but maybe I'm missing something.

Welcome to DU.

[creatives4innovation]

101. Me too...

Thanks!

[retrowire]

32. It's intentional alright.

lol I just imagined them taking a photo of someones shoulder and commenting, "IT'S SO CRAMMED IN HERE!" XD

[draa]

42. Lol

[bluedigger]

52. Intimate dinners for 2,000 just aren't her thing.

[Mike__M]

68. Would you belive...

...intimate dinners for $2000?

[SammyWinstonJack]

25. Yikes.

[cui bono]

55. Uh-oh...

.

[winter is coming]

59. Where was that "trust me, he's losing badly" picture taken?

I think I recognize someone in the crowd...

[draa]

60. Burlington Vermont.

That was when he announced his Presidential run.

[winter is coming]

67. Thanks. n/t

[LiberalElite]

61. They're just the sympathy voters -

they feel sorry for him.

[Mike__M]

69. Careful: these photos

could be construed as "hurtful"

[draa]

70. That's possible.

They tried to hide this OP last night. It went 7-0 in my favor though so...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511054538

[JonLeibowitz]

102. .

[draa]

103. -

[Fast Walker 52]

74. but but but he's a socialist!!!

[jwirr]

87. Decorah has always had strong ties with Norway. They truly

understand what Bernie is talking about when he talks about the social programs in Europe.

I am actually surprised there weren't more there.

[Fast Walker 52]

105. cool!

[MauriceLawrence96]

89. Very impressive, but doesn't mean anything...

...if people don't show up to vote.

[draa]

90. True.

But they put Obama in the WH in 2008 with a Super Majority so this thought that they won't show up is silly.

They wouldn't spend 5 hours driving across state to see a rally to not go vote when it's time.

[saltpoint]

9. Looks like a pretty good crowd. eom

[SamKnause]

10. Nice.

They could have been in the Guinness Book of World Records

if the whole town had showed up.

How awesome would it be if an entire town showed up for Bernie ???

Do you think we could get a contest going ???

Towns with small populations are scattered far and wide.

FEEL THE BERN

[Fawke Em]

19. Cute idea!

Maybe you should float that to the Bernie campaign!

[tomm2thumbs]

12. big kickeroooo!!!!

thanks for posting

[Live and Learn]

13. A quarter of the town? How amazing is that!! Feel the Bern!!! nt

[japple]

14. Bernin' down the house

[asuhornets]

15. Which means ...

the remaining 75% will be voting for Hillary!!!!

[SMC22307]

17. Do the math for Hillary's NYC kick-off.

You're not going to like the numbers. You know, using your logic, and all...

[cui bono]

51. Hee-hee

.

[Live and Learn]

27. Math not your forte?

Try subtracting Republicans and those that won't caucus first. Then subtract those that are supporting Bernie but had other things to do that night.

Scary, right?

[Rose Siding]

79. Everyone in county could caucus. The max delegates are still 11

This article explains how the math favors Clinton

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/why-geography-favors-hillary-clinton-iowa

[Live and Learn]

88. I'm sorry, we were talking about one town. Try to keep with the conversation. nt

[Lordquinton]

37. You're doing Manny proud

Brilliant satire.

[Gore1FL]

39. That sounds about the level of denial the HRC campaign used in 2008

They seem more desperate now. You'll need to bring it up a notch.

[Indepatriot]

43. Was Baghdad Bob your math tutor?

[8 track mind]

53. Duzy!!!!!

[beam me up scottie]

56. *snerk*

[SMC22307]

16. That warms my heart. (n/t)

[PatrynXX]

18. Bring in the Decorah Eagles

they all rocking

[beam me up scottie]

21. I LOVE these threads, keep 'em coming!

[Fast Walker 52]

22. Does this ever happen for Hillary?

I don't hear much about her crowds...

[peacebird]

26. No. She couldn't even fill the overflow areas at her announcement in New York!

[libdem4life]

30. Neither do I, but thought it was just because I was banned from the Hillary Group!

[highprincipleswork]

23. I like those proportions!

[AzDar]

24. K & R

[Kalidurga]

28. But, they don't even go here....

Some of them are probably from Des Moines, Dubuque, and Davenport. Heck some are probably even from cities that start with a letter besides D.

[zentrum]

33. Wow. nt

[libdem4life]

34. Lots Feeling' the Bern. Wow.

Now, in Hillary's defense, her support is mostly already there just because, so going out in the cold to events etc. isn't as appealing. That support is, supposedly, pretty solid.

Still, the optics and the roar of the crowd...hard to beat.

[99th_Monkey]

36. What? another pointless on-line poll? No wait!! a Town Meeting?? Holy Moly!! Go Bernie! nt

[HerbChestnut]

41. Don't be fooled...

That's a picture of every Bernie spammer on the internet. There was a convention.

[99th_Monkey]

45. A-ha! I knew it just HAD to be something like that.

It couldn't be that Iowa voters are Feeling the Bern, big-time.

<-- just in case.

[Uncle Joe]

44. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread and pics, Fawke Em.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

46. Good thing these people don't vote.

[TIME TO PANIC]

47. K & R !

[rurallib]

48. Decorah's a good democratic town if memory serves

OTOH I say a Trump rally live on CSPAN at a city of 25,000 near me. Quite a Repug city. Must have had 150 or so. But they were all packed tightly so it look big until the camera pulled back just a little.

[Duval]

49. Impressive!

[SoapBox]

50. Kickety Kick!

Bern it down, Bernie!

[mountain grammy]

57. A small town in Iowa

probably half the voters are Republican, although I really don't know. I think this is pretty impressive.

[Thor_MN]

58. To be fair, 8000 leaves out the 2300 students at Luther College.

And there isn't a lot to do in January at a small Lutheran college in the Midwest. I went to a similar sized college in a similar sized town and third run movie on campus would easily turn out 500 or more at $3 a head in the early 80s.

Great draw for Sanders, but saying a quarter of the town is exaggerating. Any free event on campus is going to be well attended by students.

[Fawke Em]

72. Well, I'm all for non-tradtional students, but I hardly think those rows and rows

of people with snowy (or no) hair are Luther College students.

[emmadoggy]

83. I was there.

Yes, there certainly were a good number of Luther students there, but there were far, far more "regular" people. People of all age groups and from all around the area (not just Decorah).

We were told the estimate for attendance was 2,272.

Ted Cruz was in Decorah recently. He held his event at the local pizza joint. I doubt there were more than a couple dozen people there.

[artislife]

85. Thanks for showing up!

Iowa rocks!

[Fawke Em]

91. Yay! Thank you for attending!

Was he well-received?

[emmadoggy]

95. Yes! Absolutely!

[BeanMusical]

62. Kick and R

[bigwillq]

64. K and R (nt)

[book_worm]

65. I believe that in a week Sanders will win the Iowa Caucuses

It will be close but I think the momentum is with him--and it will carry him on to an even bigger win in NH. Then we will see if he can win some of the southern primaries and caucuses that he will need to be the nominee.

[WillyT]

71. HUGE K & R !!! - Thank You !!!

[Ferd Berfel]

73. Hillary isn't drawing crowds like this

or percentages like this. Bernie is, and on a regular basis.

Note to DWS and the DNC elite ...... Bloomberg won't either!

so now what are you going to do?

Maybe you should stop fighting us and accept the Sea Change that is occurring.
A new day is about to dawn

[eggplant]

75. STOP GOING NEGATIVE!

Highlighting the ginormous crowds that Bernie has just demeans Hillary's more intimate meetings, as if there is something wrong with that.

It's just not nice. It this what we want in a President? Someone with, um, huge crowds of, um, supporters? That's just crazy talk.

[sellitman]

76. Yep. He's unelectable

Who would come out?

[mvd]

77. K&R

Great crowd! Wish I could attend.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

78. Wow!

[Bernblu]

80. As a Bernie supporter I am hopeful as to what this means

However, we should not be celebrating before we win. The race in Iowa is very close and could go either way. Unlike the Clinton supporters who celebrate after every favorable poll, we should be phone banking and working hard on the campaign to make Bernie's victory an actuality.

[Feeling the Bern]

81. But, but, but he is unelectable and is a racist, gun loving communist who wants to give out

free money and health care like he lived in Europe and Canada.

[emmadoggy]

82. OMG!! My kids and I are in that second pic!!

2nd row from the back in the photo - I'm next to the bald guy holding his phone and my two kids are to the left of me.

It was a GREAT rally. So exciting to be there! My kids LOVED it!

This was a very mixed crowd - not just college kids. People of all age groups - and not just from Decorah. We are from the town 20 miles east, and we saw cars in the lot with Wisconsin plates (WI border is about 35-40 miles east of Decorah). So this drew people from all around the area.

The place was packed. We didn't stop to get a tshirt before going in because we wanted to get in and get our seats. After, my daughter really wanted to get one. They had THREE LEFT (all size small), so we left empty-handed.

We were feelin' the Bern today!!!

[artislife]

86. That is one to keep!

Glad the kids loved it, too.

[Fawke Em]

92. Is that you in the blue?

Next to the young person in the purple?

[emmadoggy]

98. Yes!

You have a good eye! My daughter is in the purple and my son is next to her.

We really enjoyed the rally and it was really exciting to see such a big turnout!

Here's a local article posted about the event:

http://www.decorahnews.com/news-stories/2016/01/12714.html

And more great pics from the event here:

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/picture-gallery/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2016/01/24/22-photos-bernie-sanders-speaks-in-decorah-fayette-and-independence/79277222/

[Fawke Em]

99. The back of your sons head reminds me of the back of my son's head.

Your kids must be close to his age. He's 16.

I also have an 8 year old daughter.

My son is a Bernie fan. My daughter is a Disney Princess fan. LOL.

[emmadoggy]

109. LOL. My kids just turned 14. (twins)

They are both huge Bernie fans. They attended the Iowa Youth Caucus, too.

[saltpoint]

84. Here's a kick for this thread and

those inspiring photographs.

In each of those audiences are people who maybe never before were interested in political involvement, who might never even have voted, who might never have been in a room of several thousand people listening with rapt attention to a politician speaking about the issues.

This kick is for them. May it be the beginning of their lifelong involvement in the political process, in staying acutely informed, and paying attention to how power works in history.

And may they meet up with several others on the same path.

[George II]

93. How many are old enough to vote?

[rhett o rick]

94. I have to laugh at the tactic of insinuation by question. It is used when one has no

argument. You have no argument.

[George II]

96. You laugh at that tactic? Isn't that the very tactic you repeatedly use yourself?

[progressoid]

104. Yeah, it looks like they are mostly elementary school students and toddlers.

[CoffeeCat]

97. This is so awesome and will help him in the Iowa caucuses

I love that Bernie is getting these huge crowds in Iowa. Obviously, this exposes his message to many people right before the caucuses and this is good.

However, it's also great these large crowds show that interesting and enthusiasm for Bernie is only growing. This is crunch time now in Iowa. More Iowans are attending rallies and making their final decisions. Attending these rallies means that there is not only interest in Bernie, but people are wanting to hear what he has to say as they firm up their caucus decisions.

These large crowds show that Bernie is a strong, formidable candidate. The optics are terrific.

All of this helps, and will continue to help his campaign. Certainly, it's clear now that Clinton is not inevitable--and many are finding that Bernie's message resonates with them.

[liquidlarry]

100. Last night...

My wife and I saw him in Maquoketa last night a town of about 1500 and I would guess he drew all of 400, and that is light estimate , it was over filled with standing room only for a bunch that got there after the doors opened. This was the 4th time I have seen him and Jane I'm 67 and have never seen anyone like him,we need him as our next President... The reason I mentioned his wife is because we in the midwest know that behind every good man is a good woman and she is always right there with him...

[questionseverything]

106. thank you for the report and welcome to du

bernie bounce---->>>

[Glaisne]

107. When 2,000 show up for Trump

it's a big deal. When 2,000 show up for Bernie, crickets.

[Unknown Beatle]

108. "In a town of 8,000, 2,000 show up to hear Bernie."

Whoa! That's 25% of the town's population. That's a huge crowd. For comparison, take a city of 200,000, that would be 50,000 people.

Berning Down The House!