This morning’s most amusing read by far is McKay Coppins’ BuzzFeed account of the Romney campaign hastily transforming a “victory rally” in Dayton, Ohio, into a “storm relief event.” One problem was the possibility that the word wouldn’t get out about the change of plans, or it wouldn’t sink in to attendees:
The plan was for supporters to bring hurricane relief supplies to the event, and then deliver the bags of canned goods, packages of diapers, and cases of water bottles to the candidate, who would be perched behind a table along with a slew of volunteers and his Ohio right-hand man, Senator Rob Portman. To complete the project and photo-op, Romney would lead his crew in carrying the goods out of the gymnasium and into the Penske rental truck parked outside.
But the last-minute nature of the call for donations left some in the campaign concerned that they would end up with an empty truck. So the night before the event, campaign aides went to a local Wal Mart and spent $5,000 on granola bars, canned food, and diapers to put on display while they waited for donations to come in, according to one staffer.
You have to feel for the “base voter” participants, though. There they were, getting themselves all lathered up to greet the conquering hero and celebrate the impending ejection from the White House of that Kenyan socialist baby-killer, and suddenly they are in the middle of a charity event to benefit people in New York. The only thing that would have been stranger is if Paul Ryan had been there to taint himself with all that altruism.
