Not surprisingly, each candidate has chosen to spend more time on those programs likely to provide a sympathetic audience.
Now the artists no longer seem to have a sympathetic audience at City Hall.
And he might get a more sympathetic audience on the floor than he would in committee.
There may not be any new insights into the human condition here, but sympathetic audiences probably won't mind.
It was also a chance to test his plea for redemption before a sympathetic audience.
White House officials routinely have private meetings to press the administration's case with what they hope will be a sympathetic audience.
"At that point we've already got a sympathetic audience, so maybe we can get them to join the society."
The pilot told his story once again, this time to a more sympathetic audience.
"Guess I'm driving," she announced to an invisible and sympathetic audience.
More likely, it was a newly sympathetic audience, who no doubt knew what they were in for and chose to be there.