Crowds

As long as I've followed politics, I've always heard that you can judge a candidate's GOTV effort, as well as the direction of the election, by judging the crowds.

Well, if that's the case, the polls understate Obama, even when he's up by 7 to 13 points which is where the polling is at.

At noon on Friday, Champollion, his wife, and I were at an Obama Des Moines appearance that attracted more than 25,000. Considering the time and place of the event, this, in a way surpasses 100,000 in St. Louis on a Saturday. Everywhere the guy goes he draws incredible, enthusiastic crowds. I've never seen anything like it.

And other than having Simon Estes sing the national anthem (something I'd advise you to hear just once in your life OH-MY-GOD!) there was no other entertainment.

And then there are things like this:

With the largest crowd to ever attend a political event in Columbus [Ohio] as his audience...

Crowd estimate...

60,000 people flooded the lawn of the Ohio Statehouse and overflowed into the streets of Columbus.

And this, same day, in Cleveland:

Legendary US rocker Bruce Springsteen wowed a crowd of 80,000 with a rousing set at a rally for Democrat Barack Obama here Sunday on the White House campaign's final stretch.

And wrapping the day up in Cincinnati:

...before a crowd of 27,000 under stadium lights at the University of Cincinnati.

(photo REUTERS/Jason Reed)