Romney Juiced His Univision Crowd in His Favor
Both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama appeared in separate interviews with Univision last week, but their crowds couldn't have been more different. Romney's was loud and raucous; Obama's was as quiet as a golf game. The reason for the difference? Romney juiced the seats.
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Univision anchor Maria Elena Salinas told Buzzfeed's McKay Coppins the original plan for the crowds was to feature mostly students because of the education theme. Tickets were split between the campaigns, Univision, and the University of Miami, the site where the panels took place.
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Romney's was only days removed from the '47 percent' video leaking, which featured him saying it'd be easier to be elected if he was Latino. He told the Univision crowd his campaign was about, "the 100 percent of America." Obama used his Univision interview to admit to not being able to change Washington, and to say the biggest failure of his first term was not passing immigration reform.
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When Romney's camp couldn't find enough supporters on campus to fill their share of the seats, they threatened to "reschedule," if they weren't given an exemption to the students-only rule. They were allowed to bus in supporters from the area, which bothered the Univision anchors because the new crowd wouldn't keep quiet during the interview. "It was a little bit of disrespect for us," Salinas told Coppins.
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Despite Romney's best efforts to tilt the crowd in his favor, it's looking like the Latino vote is staying behind Obama. Read the rest of Coppins' piece here, which features details about him throwing a tantrum and answers the question about whether or not he seemed unnaturally dark all of a sudden for the Univision crowd.
