5000 rally for Trump in Rome, New York, April 12, 2016

 
Above, 4/12/16, "Trump supporters attend the rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on April 12, 2016 at Griffiss International Airport in Rome, N.Y. Ellen M. Blalock | eblalock@syracuse.com"

 
Above, 4/12/16, "Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump spoke to about 5,000 supporters on April 12, 2016 at a rally in Rome, N.Y., at a Griffiss International Airport hangar. Ellen M. Blalock | eblalock@syracuse.com" 

Above, 4/12/16, "Trump supporters attend the rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on April 12, 2016 at Griffiss International Airport in Rome, N.Y. Ellen M. Blalock, eblalock@syracuse.com"

4/12/16, "Trump in Rome: 'The RNC should be ashamed of itself'," Syracuse.com, Mike McAndrew

"Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump showed Tuesday why he's ahead in polls of New York voters seven days before the state's primary election.
 
About 24 hours after his campaign announced a rally at the Griffiss International Airport in this Central New York city, approximately 5,000 fans filled the venue and loudly cheered the billionaire businessman.

Trump showed up 58 minutes late, and almost immediately took shots at the Republican National Committee for allowing the primary system to be "rigged," saying that his "millions and millions" of vote lead should count more than delegates.

"The RNC should be ashamed of itself for allowing this to happen," he said, referring to Colorado awarding rival Republican Ted Cruz all of its delegates.

"The rules are no good when they don't count the votes," Trump said....

Trump spoke for 44 minutes. His biggest applause of the rally came when he said, "We're going to repeal Obamacare." The crowd chanted, "Trump, Trump, Trump."

Speaking on a former Air Force base, Trump also got big applause when he called for building up the military. "We better build our military bigger and better and stronger. The first thing we have to do is wipe ISIS right out."

But he promised that he won't be dangerous. "From the beginning, I said don't go into Iraq," he said. 

"I'll be the slowest with the trigger. But here's the difference, nobody will mess with us" when he is president, Trump said.
The enthusiastic mostly-white crowd at the Trump rally included people of all ages and both sexes. Most of the Trump fans interviewed said they had never been to a presidential rally before. 

Presidential candidates have rarely campaigned in New York in recent decades because the primary is held so late that a winner has usually emerged.

The rally in Rome was one of a handful of events Trump's campaign has planned before the April 19 New York primary. 

Three other Republicans will be on the ballot: U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, and neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who has suspended his campaign.

Tuesday's rally was interrupted by few protesters, either inside or outside of the airplane hangar.

Dave Ciccone, an accountant from nearby Frankfurt, wore a new Trump T-shirt to the rally and said he'll vote for Trump on April 19.

"He tells it like it is," Ciccone said of Trump. "I love how he's not politically correct all the time."

He said he is supporting Trump because of his immigration policies. "I love the wall. Build the wall," Ciccone said.

Dan Duell, of Rome, said he's disappointed he can't vote in the Republican primary for Trump. He's a registered voter, but not a Republican. But he plans to vote for him in the general election if Trump wins the nomination, he said.

"He speaks like we speak. He thinks like we think," Duell said of Trump....

Trump is from New York City, and he's leading in the polls of New York voters by a large margin. The NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll released Monday night showed Trump with 54 percent of the vote, Kasich with 21 percent, and Cruz with 18 percent.

But Oneida County, where the rally was held, has elected more moderate Republicans for decades, and few politicians in the region have endorsed Trump.

Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo beat Trump's New York state campaign chairman Carl Paladino in Oneida County by about 6,000 votes while winning re-election in 2010.

The rally was organized by Jane Halbritter, who unsuccessfully ran for the Republican nomination for the 24th Congressional District seat in 2014.

U.S. Rep. Richard Hanna, who represents Rome in Congress, said in March he wouldn't vote for Trump even if he's the GOP nominee. He blamed Trump and Cruz for pandering to extreme factions of the Republican party. [Hanna is a member of the non-partisan group, Republican Main Street Partnership.]

In a radio interview, state Sen. Joseph Griffo, R-Rome, who has not endorsed any Republican presidential candidates, said of Trump: "In Trump's case, the message resonates with a lot of people. I think the way the message is presented in some ways makes people cringe."

But Trump is drawing big crowds of voters. An estimated crowd of 10,000 people went to Trump's rally in Albany on Monday. On Saturday in Rochester, an estimated 7,500 to 9,000 people attended a Trump rally at that city's airport.

Trump has a 7 p.m. event Tuesday in Pittsburgh.

Trump's campaign is planning to hold a rally on Saturday in Syracuse, but no details have been announced yet."

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