Maybe folk songs have lost their allure (even when reinterpreted by these guys). Or maybe Neumo's was just too ambitious a venue for a Monday night, mid-term-election rally. Whatever the case, Democratic Senator Patty Murray didn't pack the place last night. Her people counted 250 heads—more heads than Rossi had at his Monday evening rally in Bellevue, certainly, but also many hundreds of heads fewer than Neumo's can hold.

The oldest trick for creating the impression of huge excitement with small numbers is to pack them into a small space. Like, oh, the tiny warehouse that Rossi used on Monday evening. His rally felt more alive and excited because it didn't offer a lot of room to move around in, even though in actuality, there were fewer total people there than at Murray's folk revival / base bash.

At Neumo's, Murray supporters had to be coaxed down from the upstairs bar by the emcee, Luke Burbank, so that the main floor in front of the TV cameras wouldn't look so sparsely peopled on the late-night news. Ooops.

Still, Murray gamely talked up her work helping small business owners get loans to expand and hire new employees (small business owners like Makini Howell, pictured above, who owns Capitol Hill's Plum Bistro and came to vouch for Murray's focus on real people back home).

Murray also vowed to keep fighting against Republican efforts to repeal Democratic advances such as health care reform and Wall Street reform. "Not on my watch," she said. And, playing to the relatively young crowd, Muray spoke of going to college on student loans herself and reminded people of her recent role in streamlining student loan programs—giving the government a greater role in administering them, she said, "so that your tax dollars go to students, not to banks."

Then Murray went out to press the flesh, and stayed a long, long time, shaking every hand that was offered, posing for every picture requested, looking all around the room for every last vote.