Democrats double GOP in convention attendance

Update: So what I looked at was off by a factor of ten. Close enough.

While the Wisconsin Republican Party may have induced a few more bodies out to attend its convention last month in downtown Milwaukee, Badger State Democrats easily attracted hundreds more by streaming their proceedings live to tech-savvy supporters online.

According to figures tabulated by the DPW convention video provider USTREAM.tv, almost 2300 attended the virtual convention, in addition to the 1100 or so who made it over on the rainy, muggy weekend to a Marriott Hotel in Middleton, northwest of the Capitol.

In sum, the Democrats doubled the Republican attendance, 3400 against 1700. Sources said that during popular Milwaukee mayor and candidate for governor Tom Barrett's rousing speech this morning, 1700 online viewers joined about a thousand in-person celebrants.

[eta: Turns out it was more like 15,172 online viewers. Thus are there even fewer people with actual lives than hitherto imagined.]

However, at least two suspicious interlopers were discovered, one identified by his Twitter account as @ReincePreibus and who officials said should in all fairness be removed from the grand total.

"Troll alert," a Tweet had warned, as if sensing malevolence.

The status of the other was less clear. Mark Neumann, one of a pair of declared Republican gubernatorial hopefuls, showed up outside the Marriott surrounded by enthusiastic supporters waving Barrett signs.

At press enter time there were unconfirmed rumors the purpose of Neumann's pilgrimage was to re-gift disgruntled former benefactor James Klauser's ten thousand dollars to the Tom Barrett campaign.

Yet a number of bipartisan reports suggested that Neumann had recently been beating up another Republican and Barrett rival, Scott Walker, so hard that Neumann's $10K donation to the Barrett For Governor campaign would be seen as "largely symbolic."

Another wag quipped that Neumann was probably just lost.