Press barred from talking to Palin Supporters at Palin Clearwater Rally

[RamboLiberal]

Press kept under a watchful eye
CLEARWATER -- Constantly under the watchful eyes of security, the media wasn't permitted to wander around inside Coachman Park to talk to Sarah Palin supporters. When reporters tried to leave the designated press area and head toward the bleachers where the crowd was seated, an escort would dart out of nowhere and confront him or her and say, "Can I help you?'' and turn the person around.
When one reporter asked an escort, who would not give her name, why the press wasn't allowed to mingle, she said that in the past, negative things had been written. The campaign wanted to avoid that possibility Monday.
-- Times staff writer Eileen Schulte

http://blogs.tampabay.com/breakingnews/2008/10/under-the-watch.html

The same mob that threatened media:

Worse, Palin's routine attacks on the media have begun to spill into ugliness. In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric's questions for her "less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media." At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, "Sit down, boy."


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/06/AR2008100602935.html

[RamboLiberal]

1. Some interesting crowd notes from the blog

Before we got all goo-goo about the huge crowd Palin drew: "Clearwater police estimated the crowd at 4,500."

http://blogs.tampabay.com/breakingnews/2008/10/palin-crowd-est.html

Let's see, Coachman Park holds about 12,000. Sounds like she couldn't fill the park. What happened to all the Palin excitement?

Posted by: Gene Smith

She only got 4,500 people to show up out of a metro area with 3 million people?

Posted by: Tom | October 06, 2008 at 12:05 PM

11:52 Gene, the Palin tickets went on sale BEFORE the VP debate. Then people got their fill of the her blather and stayed home in record numbers afterwards.

Posted by: Barracuda = "fish out of water" | October 06, 2008 at 12:05 PM

My brother who was at the rally said they moved all the people over to one side so as to make it appear more full so they could take some pictures.

It made him mad because there was plenty of room to stretch out on the other side. It was completely empty.

Posted by: | October 06, 2008 at 12:19 PM

http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2008/10/the-scene-in-cl.html

[Imagevision]

2. Officials should do their own Palin background check, so she's a Gov. what else? (presidency ivolved