This is pathetic after the amount of national coverage Romney just got for (barely) winning Iowa. Only dozens want to meet Romney, the guy who is supposedly going to win the national GOP primary and take on Obama, the guy who could be the next leader of the free world? Really???

Outside the Romney Ralley in Conway, SC today courtesy of The Sun Times.

Don’t think of Conway as some podunk town. It is really a part of Myrtle Beach. It’s to Myrtle Beach about like Matthews is to Charlotte. This is an area of nearly 300,000 people and he attracts … dozens.  This appearance was also highly publicized both locally and statewide.

And he was there with Sen. John McCain. And South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. And that didn’t even help much.

Now contrast that to the crowds Michelle Bachmann has drawn here. Heck, in December, when she’d already crashed in the polls, Bachmann attracted “a couple hundred people” to her book signing here.

Yes, the GOP will get behind Romney if he is the nominee and yes, he probably will be. But he is going to need more enthusiasm among the rank and file on the ground to beat Obama’s ground game. By that I mean that your followers have to love you enough to take a day off work to drive the little old ladies to the polls. They have to love you enough to go door-to-door and spend their evenings stuffing your fliers. They have to push you on facebook. OR YOU LOSE.

Romney has to do better.

Update: Later morning callers to my radio show who attended the rally claimed the total was closer to 150, at least 20 of whom were media. Bachmann still beats him in the turnout war here. Still pathetic.