Romneymania

His speech was held at Detroit’s massive Ford Field, which holds tens of thousands of people, but only 1,000 or so attended. The campaign and the Detroit Economic Club, which hosted the event, sought to make the stadium look more full by putting the audience in one end zone of the football field and putting the cameras directly behind them.

But cameras showed empty chairs, and the Democratic National Committee blasted out photos that compared the crowd at Romney’s speech to the filled stadiums where then-candidate Barack Obama had campaign rallies in 2008.

The campaign didn’t bill the speech as a major rally and, according to reports, did not try to fill the stadium.

Romney even joked about the cavernous space.

“I want to thank Ford Field for making room for us,” he said to laughs from the crowd.
[...]
After an audience member asked Romney if he thought he’d have the best chance to beat Obama, Romney dismissed the other GOP candidates.

“I not only think I have the best chance, I think I have the only chance — maybe I’m overstating it a bit,” he said, chuckling awkwardly.

“That’s my family leading the applause,” he said quickly, although no one was clapping, then laughed again. No one appeared to laugh with him.