on the campaign trail
Crowd loses interest, walks out on Obama at campaign event
President Obama hasn't been on the campaign trail much this election season, and a story out of Maryland on Sunday suggests that's a good thing for Democratic candidates' prospects. When Obama spoke at a campaign event for gubernatorial candidate Anthony Brown, many rally attendees walked out. Whether the walkout was a reflection of Obama's poor approval rating or simply the length of the event is not clear.
The crowd of 8,000 was mostly African-American, and they represent a district in which 90 percent of voters supported Obama in his 2012 reelection bid. Nevertheless, audience members left "by the dozen" as Obama's speech progressed, a move a Reuters reporter on hand characterized as "noticeable and noisy." The president wasn't left totally alone, though; the majority of the audience stayed, though some apparently stuck around to heckle him.