During the Herman Cain rally we were able to accommodate 1200+ folks in 2 and a half days notice.  Upon hearing the possibility of Senator Santorum's speaking here we imagined we might have to utilize the extra section.  Unfortunately due to the hectic scheduling that goes on as we approach Tuesday's presidential primary, it appeared we would not have the visit after all.

Till the call on Saturday (yesterday) morning.  

All the mechanics involved in the notifying of those interested, press releases, and announcements (here even) went into action, and much was even left up to word of mouth.  And thankfully, a strong spectrum of conservatives, as well as a tea party base made it.  It was a good showing, given the time constraint and short alert cycle.  The press for its part did a pretty good job, as it was a unique same day stumping by the high caliber competition in a relatively remote region.

We had 12-15 news agencies represented BTW.

Rick Santorum opened up in a way I had not expected.  He spoke for a solid hour and 15 minutes on the constitution, freedom of religion and american exceptionalism.  One particular message he delivered was about how Obama and those in power talk of "freedom to worship" vs what conservatives might prefer as "freedom of religion".  Its sometimes hard to wrap one's head around the differences such simple phrases can denote.  What IS the difference?  The News caught it:

He lambasted the Obama administration's rule for Catholic institution insurers to cover contraception.

"Your faith is what also goes on outside the church, not just what's inside," he said.

Obama could care less what you say, how you pray, or how you worship.  But when you come outside the doors of the church, you live life as the government sees fit.

He was received very well.

The Romney event had a couple of interesting complications.

First of all, there was a requirement that anyone who wanted to attend must first register. (the clip shown above)  That turned off a few folks whom I had spoken to, who still wanted to see Romney.  The idea of getting the reservations was actually a reasonable precaution for over crowding, but the choice of the venue limited the activity.

Given the charged activity leading up to this Tuesday's vote, I would have expected the Romney event to be overflowing. My first thoughts that the reported 1300 reservations made, would make it a logistics nightmare for the organizers.  The rumor that there was a basement room where overflow would be directed to watch on video made me giggle just a little. And I suppose that would be better than turning away several hundred, as the Park Place dome holds only about 500 folks standing up.

The truth as it turns out might actually hurt some feelings in the Romney camp.

The Romney venue that holds 500 standing, was only about 85% full.  Many of those folks coming directly from the Santorum rally, and who had reserved tickets a week before.

The other part according to my top secret reporter is that though Romney was well received, "there was nothing new." and "He only spoke for 20 minutes, because all the other local politicians took up the time".  This person was at both events, and expressed a disappointment in Romney's performance, though readily acknowledging that for some there he was "all that".

If I had to read between the lines, and use a little political algebra, I would deduce Mitt Romney's once predetermined primary win in Michigan come Tuesday is at risk. Very much so.

What took the Romney team a week and a half to pull together, became second rate to a single day production at an accessible event.