McCain officially launches his presidential campaign

Standing under a Boston Red Sox umbrella during a steady rain Sen. John McCain, R- Ariz., addresses a campaign rally in Manchester, N.H., Wednesday evening, April 25, 2007. McCain officially announced his candidacy for president during a campaign rally in Portsmouth on Wednesday afternoon. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

Here's the biggest yawn of a news story yet. From MSNBC News:

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. - Republican John McCain officially entered the 2008 presidential race Wednesday, stressing his experience honed in war and Washington as he sought to revive his struggling campaign.

"We face formidable challenges, but I'm not afraid of them. I'm prepared for them," said the four-term Arizona senator, ex-Navy pilot and former Vietnam captive.

In a speech in the first-in-the-nation primary state, McCain stressed the wisdom he's acquired over time rather than the decades themselves as he sought to make the case that he's the most qualified to succeed President Bush amid challenges at home and abroad.

"I'm not the youngest candidate. But I am the most experienced," said the 70-year-old who could be the oldest first-term president, drawing cheers. "I know how to fight and how to make peace. I know who I am and what I want to do."

The announcement, seven years after he lost the GOP nomination to George W. Bush, was no surprise; McCain's intentions have long been clear as he has spent months campaigning in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and elsewhere.

Still, the event - and a planned four-day romp through early primary states and his Arizona home - gives McCain an opportunity to restart his campaign after a troubling four-month period. He went from presumed front-runner for the GOP nomination at year's end to trailing former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani in national polls and ex-Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts in money raised.

I watched a little of McCain's official presidential announcement, and the one thing I noticed was that there didn't seem to be much audience reaction to McCain's speech. You can watch the announcement here on YouTube:



And I've got some news photos of the McCain campaign rally here:

US Senator John McCain speaks during a campaign rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. McCain formally confirmed on Wednesday he is running for the White House, seeking to revive a campaign bogged down by missteps, controversy over his support for the Iraq war and lackluster fundraising.(AFP/Getty Images/Justin Sullivan)

Judy Mastrocola holds her daughter Anna, 5, as they listen to Presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., deliver his campaign announcement address during a steady rain in Manchester, N.H., Wednesday evening, April 25, 2007. McCain offically announced his candidacy for president during a campaign rally in Portsmouth Wednesday afternoon. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) (R) greets anti-war demonstrators, who interrupted his speech, at a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, April 25, 2007, after McCain formally announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for President of the United States earlier in the day. REUTERS/Brian Snyder (UNITED STATES)

Presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has a picture taken with a supporter before getting back onto his campaign bus after a McCain 2008 rally in Manchester, N.H., Wednesday evening, April 25, 2007. McCain offically announced his candidacy for president during a campaign rally in Portsmouth Wednesday afternoon. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

I found a small story from James Pindell at The Boston Globe, which reported the crowd size at McCain's announcement to be around 250 people. According to Pindell:

According to Portsmouth police, about 250 people were at the event with plenty of media in tow. Many of those interviewed said they were at the event mainly out of curiosity, not necessarily because they were supporting McCain.

As a result, in this city where local parking issues dog the City Council, there were plenty of parking spots to be had in walking distance of the park about 45 minutes before the event started.

But this has all the signs for a made-for-TV event. There are plenty of McCain signs to wave in front of television cameras., and a large podium on a raised stage with prominent New Hampshire supporters behind him.

And above McCain's head will be a view of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

I find it interesting that the McCain crowd size was around 250 people, mostly coming to the event out of curiosity. In comparison, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's official announcement speech in Springfield Illinois, on February 10, 2007, had an estimated crowd size of over 15,000 supporters. I can understand that both McCain and Obama's announcements were certainly planned, and staged, for the media. But when I look at both speeches, and the crowd reactions to the speeches, I get the impression that Obama is the stronger candidate because of how he worked a large, enthusiastic crowd during his speech, over that of McCain's speech with the smaller crowd.

It is an interesting contrast between the two candidates.

There is one more interesting aspect regarding McCain's announcement. It is McCain's Straight Talk Express PR blunders over the past couple of months. Senator McCain was caught on video singing "Bomb Iran." The Straight Talk Express response? It was just a joke, so get a life! McCain may have thought it was just a joke, but MoveOn.org decided to use the video in an attack ad against McCain. A March 26, 2007 Raw Story article reported that on Bill Bennett's Morning in America radio show, Senator McCain claimed, "There are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods, today...." This boast created a firestorm of criticism against McCain for making this outrageous statement. McCain decided to try to prove his point by taking a stroll through a marketplace in Baghdad, with what seemed like half the U.S. Army in Iraq protecting McCain during his marketplace stroll. Talk about two huge PR blunders here from the McCain campaign! It has been these two blunders that certainly caused the press to speculate on McCain's struggling campaign. This makes me wonder about McCain's low-keyed official presidential campaign launch here. Did the McCain campaign staff decide to make this official launch as a low-keyed, media affair in order to avoid another "Straight Talk Express" blunder? Or has the McCain campaign sunk so low in their own blundering incompetence, that nobody really wanted to show up in Portsmouth? Or is there a third reason--perhaps the American public has already known that John McCain is running for president, therefore there was no reason for them to attend this McCain non-campaign event?

Now I'm getting confused here....