I see the sun trying to peek through some clouds as I write these words, but basically, the forecast is bleak. Check this out. It looks the weather forecast of a Wagner opera.
So the question is, should the Obama people cancel the stadium acceptance speech and move it indoors? But let's back up. The first question is, why did they schedule another big outdoor footbal stadium speech to begin with?
I think there are three reasons. One, the campaign and party can make more money at a football stadium, asking for "donations" in return for skybox use. Two, are less unwholesomely, they can give thousands of free seats to North Carolinians they hope will go out and knock on doors, as they did four years ago w/r/t Coloradans.
And third and I think mainly, it's about media narrative. If they hadn't gone the stadium route this time, I reckon they feared a media narrative that would go something like "see, the magic is gone." Whereas if they filled a big stadium again they're hoping they might get a "gee, he can still fire 'em up" narrative.
But what about empty seats? It's a 75,000-seat stadium. All it takes is 20 empty seats for Fox at least to try to turn the thing into a disaster. I hear they have to decide today whether to move it indoors, and I am betting that they'll accept Mother Nature's gracious offer to seem less grandiose. Rain is a great excuse.