Due to the poor attendance at Rob Ford’s campaign kickoff party, his new theme song could be “Half Empty Halls”
The Ford campaign booked an enormous banquet hall; rented tables, chairs, tablecloths, sound equipment, etc.; shelled out for servers and other staff; hired a rock band and bagpipers; hung large printed banners; gave away free alcohol and snacks; handed out other freebies; and brought along an old fire truck as a prop (which brother
Randy bought for $4,000 at an auction). There were probably many other expenses too.
By most accounts, the April 17, 2014 event was a flop, with low turnout, no “
history in the making" moments (another Ford promise broken), none of the celebrity appearances that were anticipated, and a lackluster speech full of lies, clichés and vague pledges.
TV footage showed a lot of people waiting in line to get Ford T-shirts and bobblehead dolls, but it seems that many of those people were not genuine supporters, and left soon after getting their memorabilia, perhaps to sell online.
Conventional wisdom among political operatives is that you always hire a modest-sized space for events like this. It looks fuller that way and you don’t risk showing empty seats on TV. Olivia Chow’s launch was in a church, John Tory’s in a downtown community hall.
That’s not how the Fords roll. They got the Toronto Congress Centre, a vast barn on Dixon Road with polished-concrete floors and cinderblock walls that looks big enough to host a monster-truck rally. They filled maybe half of the 290 tables of 10 seats each.
Ford launches populist crusade, er, political campaign - The Globe and Mail
Yes they are there up at the front.............
original source for this material:
The Ranting Canadian, Due to the poor attendance at Rob Ford’s campaign...
yours in moderatorship, Mr. Locutus