The Ford Fieldhouse at Grand Rapids Community College can hold more than 4000 people. If President Bush was staged at the north or south side, they could easily fit about 7000-10,000 people inside Ford Fieldhouse with the bleachers set up for the basketball games as well as everyone on the floor.
The place where they could hold the largest capacity would either be at Van Andel Arena or Houseman Field. Houseman though has a parking problem.
Is it true the President will be here again in Michigan this Thursday. I believe its Saginaw? What is the POC.?
The police estimate released to the Press for the Kerry rally crowd was 5000. Kerry mentioned 20,000 from the stage...he was just exaggerating (because his estimate will probably get play in the mainstream press...the local news outlets were more objective). Bush had a capacity 4000 at the Fieldhouse (preferring an indoor, weather-proof venue). Kerry was 2 hours ahead of a thunderstorm that would have washed out his whole outdoor event. Bush filled the Fieldhouse with 4000, but could have brought in well over that figure. While the city of Grand Rapids leans slightly Democratic (the current mayor and the last mayor, John Logie, and both Kerry supporters), the suburban areas are nearly 2-1 Republican. Ottawa County, just west of Grand Rapids is one of the most Republican Counties in the U.S....consistently voting GOP by a greater than 70-30 margin. Kerry's people have been very active around Grand Rapids...passing out flyers...going door-to-door. Conservatives need to be active and outspoken.
I work at the college and worked on the appearance; the Ford Fieldhouse capacity according to the fire codes is 4,000. From what I saw, 4,000 is a generous estimate of how many people attended.
The stage for the Bush was at the north end of the fieldhouse. There were bleachers behind the stage and lecturn, as well as bleachers flanking the stage on either side and extending out into the floor. There were also chairs in the front of the stage, and the press section was directly behind the chairs on the floor (the press had a few rows of chairs for print media, and the TV media had a three-level platform to set tripods up on).
That's not to say that more people weren't interested in going; certainly there were - but it was a more small, intimate appearance and only a very limited number of tickets were made available to the general public.