Obama defeated by "church, football and Halloween"

Well, that's the excuse, at least. For what the New York Times describes as a "thin crowd" at a rally in Cleveland:

CLEVELAND — President Obama wrapped up a weekend of last-minute campaigning in Ohio on Sunday, addressing Democrats in an indoor arena that, in a sign of the “enthusiasm gap” that the president is working so hard to close, was little more than half full.

About 8,000 people attended the Democratic National Committee’s Moving America Forward’ rally at Cleveland State University’s Wolstein Center, a hall where the capacity is 13,000. The rafters were largely empty.

...the thin crowd was perhaps a foreboding sign in the waning days of the midterm races...

I'm surprised Obama did not put a moratorium on church ("the opiate of the masses"), football (calling refs "zebras" is racist) and Halloween ("That's Christine O'Donnell's holiday!") to force a larger turnout for his rally.

Second day in a row we've seen awful thin crowds for one-time Democratic superstars...and the second day in a row we've felt the need to use a Spinal Tap analogy..."Hello Cleveland!", indeed: