The new-candidate smell has officially faded from Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke.

The former Texas congressman — whose primary claim to the Democratic nomination is almost, kind-of, getting close to unseating a Republican senator in Texas during a good year for Democrats in which he was sitting atop a pile of money — is down in recent polls.

Media attention has begun to focus on South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s story and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s policy proposals (insane as they might be). The Beto crowds on the campaign trail are getting a lot smaller.

And when I say a lot smaller, I mean that if they get any smaller than the crowd he drew at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas on Friday, you could have hosted the rally in a unisex campus restroom.

“Around 35 people here to see Beto O’Rourke at UNLV,” Bloomberg reporter Emma Kinery tweeted. “The rally was supposed to be held in the courtyard outside, but students told me no one is on campus on Fridays bc it’s mainly a commuter school.”

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Around 35 people here to see Beto O’Rourke at UNLV. The rally was supposed to be held in the courtyard outside, but students told me no one is on campus on Fridays bc it’s mainly a commuter school. pic.twitter.com/zFygogVAe6 — Emma Kinery (@EmmaKinery) April 26, 2019

According to Kinery, O’Rourke didn’t even need amplification to speak to the crowd.

Beto’s here and is speaking without a mic — Emma Kinery (@EmmaKinery) April 26, 2019

The O’Rourke campaign clearly had a bigger event in mind originally.

This is where the rally was originally supposed to be held pic.twitter.com/ANLxtkY6ac — Emma Kinery (@EmmaKinery) April 26, 2019

But, alas, that wasn’t to happen — and Twitter users had fun mocking O’Rourke over it.

I’ve seen book clubs bigger than that. — 🚨 Daniel (@illdiscourse) April 26, 2019

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Millions raised but no budget for an advance operation? — Philip Smith (@capitolphil) April 26, 2019

#Beto wouldn’t know what actually happens at a commuter school. He spent his years at an Ivy far far away from his home and before that, a boarding school in another state. #OutOfTouch — my house (@2dechat) April 27, 2019

And yes, this may be a commuter school, but it’s also in a fairly large metropolitan area. The fact that the O’Rourke campaign couldn’t rustle up more people to turn out is a problem for Beto, and not just because of the optics.

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He’s supposed to be a rising star campaigning in a state that’s crucially important for his run at the nomination.

Nevada votes third after Iowa and New Hampshire in the primary process. According to the Reno Gazette-Journal, Warren, as well as Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California have all campaigned in the northern part of the state in recent weeks.

And while the hour is still early, it’s also the first state in which Beto seems to have made a dent in the polls. O’Rourke is well back in the field in both Iowa and New Hampshire, yet the only poll in Nevada so far shows him tied with Warren for third behind Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders — albeit a distant third, with 10 percent of the vote compared to 26 percent for Biden and 23 percent for Sanders.

It’s still April of the year before the primary contests, of course, and the field hasn’t sufficiently solidified to the point where we can separate the front-runners from the also-rans.

Remember, at this point three years ago we were operating under the assumption Jeb Bush had the inside track for the GOP nomination. That said, enthusiasm is the father of momentum, and drawing a crowd so small it could well be mistaken for any given class at UNLV isn’t exactly evidence of enthusiasm.

For evidence, compare this to any Donald Trump rally, either now or during the 2016 campaign.

So, from a campaign perspective, turnout was disastrous. But to look at the bright side, it seems like O’Rourke managed to take individual photos with a goodly portion of the audience, too:

“‪Really appreciate the UNLV students who joined us for today’s town hall discussion,” an O’Rourke Facebook post read. “This is where the leadership is on so many critically important issues. We are stronger when we show up on campuses, when we listen, and when we bring everyone into the conversation.”

Judging by the crowd Beto O’Rourke drew and his own words, one can probably deduce something about the strength of his campaign.

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