FAILURE TO LAUNCH: Deval Patrick Cancels Early Campaign Event at Black College After Just Two People Show Up
Photo credit: Saul Loeb, AFP/Getty Images.
Former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick experience a rude, 2020 awakening on Wednesday when just two people showed up to one of his planned campaign events at Morehouse College in Atlanta, prompting him to cancel the event.
Patrick, the latest entry into an still-crowded Democratic primary field, only learned of the anemic turnout upon arriving at the historically black college. Rather than confront the prospect of his campaign staff outnumbering the audience, Patrick cancelled, according to CNN’s Annie Grayer.
Governor @DevalPatrick was supposed to have an event at Morehouse College tonight. An organizer with the college who planned the event told CNN that Patrick cancelled the event when he arrived and learned that he would not have an audience. (Note, two people came, not pictured) pic.twitter.com/CzNjWYcWKJ
— Annie Grayer (@AnnieGrayerCNN) November 21, 2019
Patrick only announced his candidacy last week, just in time to qualify for the New Hampshire primary in early February. The embarrassing setback, occurring on the same day as fifth Democratic debate held only miles away, only reinforced the daunting challenges facing Patrick’s 2020 run.
According to a recent HuffPost poll of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters, more than eight in ten said they were “enthusiastic” or “satisfied” with the existing candidates before Patrick joined the race. Just over one in ten said they were “dissatisfied” or “upset.”
In our most recent survey, 83% of Democratic or Democratic-leaning voters said they were at least satisfied with the 2020 Democratic field, with 45% describing themselves as enthusiastic. 8% were dissatisfied; 3% were upset. https://t.co/rPfaKFLjqL
— Ariel Edwards-Levy (@aedwardslevy) October 23, 2019
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