When Livingston County Democrats attracted about 75 people on a weeknight to see former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer, the Livingston Press and Argus labeled it a "small" crowd, in its otherwise balanced account of the event.
Today (June 26, 2008), the Detroit Free Press reports that George Bush attracted "more than 300 people" to a fund-raiser in Livonia.
Generally, readers are better served with the Free Press approach -- just stating the number of people who attended and letting the readers decide for themselves how to characterize the size -- small, medium, large, or just right. Or the news organization might provide some sort of comparative information, such as the number at a similar event recently, to help the readers form their own judgments.
But since I write for a blog and not a newspaper, I'll go ahead and characterize the Bush crowd -- 300 is a mighty small crowd for a sitting president in a community the size of metro Detroit and its suburbs.
Regardless of Livingston GOP Chair Allan Filip's comment in the article that there "are a lot of people out here who support him," there apparently weren't a lot willing to plunk down serious money for the privilege of listening to him.
And that can only be good news for Democrats this fall.
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