The Romney campaign’s seemingly charitable decision Tuesday to suddenly change a scheduled victory rally in Ohio into a storm-relief event in the wake of Hurricane Sandy is being criticized by pundits as a staged photo opportunity.
The campaign’s communications director, Gail Gitcho, released a statement the morning before the event, announcing that the rally had been canceled “out of sensitivity to the millions of Americans in the path of Hurricane Sandy.” Several hours later, it was followed with another announcement that the existing location in Dayton, Ohio would be used for a nonpartisan “storm relief event” instead.
Buzzfeed’s McKay Coppins writes, “It would be a way for Romney to show leadership – and get on the local news – without looking craven or opportunistic.”
Unfortunately for the candidate, though, that’s exactly how his efforts were perceived.
As campaign aides rushed to transform the venue into a non-partisan donations drop-off site where residents could bring items like canned goods and water, some were concerned there wouldn’t be a large enough community response to the event. One staffer told Buzzfeed that in an attempt to make the storm-relief successful, some aides were sent to a local Wal-Mart where they spent $5,000 on granola bars, canned food and diapers to be displayed on tables as they waited for donations from community members.
The campaign confirmed with the website that it did “donate supplies to the relief effort,” but there was no specification on how much was spent.
It turns out they had nothing to worry about, as residents in the area showed up with an overwhelming amount of donations.
“We were incredibly pleased with the outpouring of support we received from volunteers and generous contributors from southwest and central Ohio,” said Christopher Maloney, Romney’s Ohio spokesman, adding, “We’re pleased that Ohio could play a role, albeit a minor one, in the relief effort.”
When Romney arrived, he gave a short speech to the crowd of about 2,000, expressing concern for the storm’s victims and avoiding blatantly political talk, before heading to stand behind a table with Ohio Senator Rob Portman, where he received donations and shook attendees’ hands.
Reporters in attendance weren’t buying it.
Ari Sharipo, a White House correspondent for NPR, tweeted, “Lots of Qs in the press corps today on how Romney’s OH “storm relief event” is diff from a “campaign event.” Same venue, same celeb guests.”
The list of mishaps during what was supposed to be a depoliticized event started with the accidental showing of a 10-minute biographical video on Romney, the same one that played at the Republican National Convention. And before then, reporters were given press badges that said “victory rally” because a new batch couldn’t be printed in time.
The sense of a staged event followed all the way to the donation line. Buzzfeed reported:
As supporters lined up to greet the candidate, a young volunteer in a Romney/Ryan T-shirt stood near the tables, his hands cupped around his mouth, shouting, “You need a donation to get in line!”
Empty-handed supporters pled for entrance, with one woman asking, “What if we dropped off our donations up front?”
The volunteer gestured toward a pile of groceries conveniently stacked near the candidate. “Just grab something,” he said.
Two teenage boys retrieved a jar of peanut butter each, and got in line. When it was their turn, they handed their “donations” to Romney. He took them, smiled, and offered an earnest “Thank you.”
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow was unsparing in her criticism of the governor.
“This is not a plot in a sitcom about how to run for president,” the host of The Rachel Maddow Show said on her show Wednesday. “This is a real disaster, an ongoing one, affecting millions of Americans.”
She continued, “And real help really is needed, and that is not the same thing as using the suffering of millions of Americans as an occasion to accrue political capital for yourself by trying to create the appearance that you are helping when you are not bothering to actually try to really help.”
The question of how helpful food donations are is up for debate, but the American Red Cross has stressed that it would only like monetary or blood donations for Hurricane Sandy relief. Some organizations find the logistics involved in sorting through donations and distributing them to be less effective and a hindrance to relief.
Regardless, people in attendance found the event to be a good effort on the part of the Romney campaign.
One resident, Paulette Flaum, told The New York Times that though she’d long been skeptical of Romney, his decision to hold a storm-relief event showed he was “a generous man.”
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