* From WLS Radio…

Former President Bill Clinton’s ‘get out the vote’ rally for Democrats at a downtown Chicago hotel was the most unenthusiastic WLS veteran political reporter Bill Cameron has ever witnessed.

Clinton was an hour late for the Tuesday afternoon rally at the Palmer House and droned on for another hour, sending dozens of the few hundred Democrats in attendance for the exits.

The “few hundred” turnout number appears to be way off. I talked to a reporter who was there who said at least a thousand people showed up. The official number given by the Quinn campaign was 1,300, and the Sun-Times used that figure.

And this is from Fox News, which is hardly a Democratic Party shill…

After taking the stage almost an hour behind scheudule, Bill Clinton fired up the crowd of more than 1,000 inside the historic Palmer House Hilton saying, “We are all here. Now the question is, what are we going to do?”

“Fired up” does not sound to me like “most unenthusiastic rally ever.” According to my reporter friend, Clinton did indeed “drone on” for a long time. WBEZ said the speech sounded “more like a college professor’s lecture than a rallying cry for Democrats.” A sample…

“You can win every race represented on this stage,” Clinton told 1,300 cheering Democrats at the Palmer House Hilton.

“You could also lose every single one of them. It depends on how bad you want this and whether you know what to say to the people who are not here.”

I’m told the crowd reaction was strong. Also, my friend said, only a few people actually walked out. That’s normal for an event which started an hour late because of the big storm.

The Brady campaign e-mailed WLS’ story probably hoping to gin something up. But I think WLS’ coverage may be a better angle. They pushed that totally goofy “Greek draft dodger” story every hour on the hour during their news programs yesterday.

It would be a real shame if the attitude of the station’s right-leaning infotainment jocks has now overtaken WLS’ news desk. That used to be a great station.

*** UPDATE 1 *** Thanks to a commenter, here’s a photo of the rally…

As the commenter said, that doesn’t look like a few hundred listless people.

*** UPDATE 2 *** Video of what doesn’t appear to be lethargic people…

*** UPDATE 2 *** ABC7’s Charles Thomas backs up Cameron on crowd size but not enthusiasm…

When the former president began his speech, the Palmer House ballroom was half filled with enthusiastic Democratic Party workers. By the time Clinton finished, the candidates he promoted had been standing behind him for nearly an hour and the room was at best a third filled.

Video…

[ *** End Of Updates *** ]

* Meanwhile, in other campaign news, Joe Berrios’ new TV ad will start tomorrow. Rate it…