Obama Bus Tour Day 3: Jumping In The Pool
Before I went to bed Saturday night I received an email from the Obama campaign telling me I had been selected to be the radio pool. The pool is a small group of reporters who travel “behind the scenes” with the President. Wherever he goes, the pool follows. While there are many reporters on the Obama bus tour, only a few get picked each day to travel in the nominee’s motorcade.
It was a good day to be in the pool.
After the secret service “swept” us (checked all our bags with a fine tooth comb) we followed Obama to Sunday services at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Lima, OH. The press people told me to go right in for the service in yet another small town stop on this bus tour. The parishioners learned early in the morning he was coming, and they were thrilled. Obama sat in a pew near the front of the church near the organist. Right after the service the pool was able to ask him questions about the hurricane churning in the Gulf of Mexico. Before that he really worked the rope line and had his first real good “baby” photo op of the bus trip.
Then it was onto the bus. Next stop Toledo. I was surprised that the candidate would actually say “Holy Toledo” when he was introduced for the small event on the rooftop of a building in the town along the Maumee River that Jamie Farr (Klinger) made famous. And there are those Mud Hens too. When we pulled into Toledo, all the other reporters were already there.
After that event the rest of the press got on their buses and went to the next big event in Battle Creek, Michigan. But the pool made a stop with the candidate along the way. We stopped at a lakeside restaurant called Pier 32 in Hamilton, Indiana. It sits on a beautiful lake nestled in Eastern Indiana. It could have been anywhere on the Chesapeake Bay. When we go there it was packed with folks enjoying their Labor Day weekend. And boy did they have a good time visiting with Obama and Joe Biden. People from Fort Wayne, South Bend and Kokomo spend summer weekends there like Marylanders go to Deep Creek Lake. I stood right next to Barack Obama’s table as he munched on frog legs and other favorites at Pier 32. It would have been really cool if he had left on one of the boats that was docked there.
Then the busy day on the pool bus continues with a trip to Battle Creek where we met-up with the rest of the reporters for a rally in the breakfast cereal capital of the world. It was a crowd of 17,500 (as estimated by a local fire chief) that made a lot of noise at a minor league baseball stadium. After that it was back on the pool bus for the trip to our hotel in Ann Arbor. It’s my final stop on the bus tour before I head out to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul.
It was quite an experience riding along in the pool bus and following every move of the Presidential nominee through Ohio, Indiana and Michigan.
The Name Game
There are plenty of acronyms that they use on these campaign bus trips. Today when I was in the pool I was “In The Bubble”. That means I was as close as anyone in the press is allowed to the candidate. I had my equipment swept at the “RON”. That’s short for Reporters Overnight, or the hotel where the press stays while on the bus trip. The stop we made at the restaurant at the lake was an “OTR”. That’s short for an Off The Record Stop. It isn’t announced ahead of time and we (the pool) are the only ones allowed to cover it. Each time I heard each of those terms from the Obama press people or from my colleagues for the first time I felt kind of stupid asking what it meant. I forgot one, Bravo. That means the pool bus is pulling up to an area where we will need to get out quickly to follow the candidate.
Happy Birthday Julia Miller
It was a 79th birthday that Julie Miller will never forget. The Hoosier was at Pier 32 at Lake Hamilton with her family celebrating her birthday. When Obama walked into the restaurant he walked right up to Julie and gave her a hug and a kiss. I haven’t been able to find out if the Obama press people told him it was her birthday party at that table. She said it was the most exciting thing that has ever happened to her (save for getting married, having kids and grandchildren). She told me she was on-the-fence before today but now she says the guy who made a surprise visit to her birthday party is getting her vote.
Barack’s Bus
I was surprised to find when I joined the Obama bus tour that the bus he and Joe Biden and their wives were driving around in is unmarked. I expected to see a big red, white and blue bus with Obama ’08 all over it. But that’s not the case. There were 10 vehicles in the Obama bus tour motorcade when I spent my day in the pool yesterday. Everywhere we went there were police officers stopping traffic and escorting us every step of the way. I’m not sure if candidates win any votes when people are stuck in traffic because of them. But boy does it move things along when you’re in the motorcade.
Faces In The Crowd
I’ve run into some at each event on this Obama bus trip who tell me they’re not going to vote for him but they are attending the campaign events because of all the excitement that is following the Democratic presidential nominee. Some have told me they are big McCain supporters, but they didn’t want to miss the big Obama event when it came through their town.
It was a good day to be in the pool.
After the secret service “swept” us (checked all our bags with a fine tooth comb) we followed Obama to Sunday services at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Lima, OH. The press people told me to go right in for the service in yet another small town stop on this bus tour. The parishioners learned early in the morning he was coming, and they were thrilled. Obama sat in a pew near the front of the church near the organist. Right after the service the pool was able to ask him questions about the hurricane churning in the Gulf of Mexico. Before that he really worked the rope line and had his first real good “baby” photo op of the bus trip.
Then it was onto the bus. Next stop Toledo. I was surprised that the candidate would actually say “Holy Toledo” when he was introduced for the small event on the rooftop of a building in the town along the Maumee River that Jamie Farr (Klinger) made famous. And there are those Mud Hens too. When we pulled into Toledo, all the other reporters were already there.
After that event the rest of the press got on their buses and went to the next big event in Battle Creek, Michigan. But the pool made a stop with the candidate along the way. We stopped at a lakeside restaurant called Pier 32 in Hamilton, Indiana. It sits on a beautiful lake nestled in Eastern Indiana. It could have been anywhere on the Chesapeake Bay. When we go there it was packed with folks enjoying their Labor Day weekend. And boy did they have a good time visiting with Obama and Joe Biden. People from Fort Wayne, South Bend and Kokomo spend summer weekends there like Marylanders go to Deep Creek Lake. I stood right next to Barack Obama’s table as he munched on frog legs and other favorites at Pier 32. It would have been really cool if he had left on one of the boats that was docked there.
Then the busy day on the pool bus continues with a trip to Battle Creek where we met-up with the rest of the reporters for a rally in the breakfast cereal capital of the world. It was a crowd of 17,500 (as estimated by a local fire chief) that made a lot of noise at a minor league baseball stadium. After that it was back on the pool bus for the trip to our hotel in Ann Arbor. It’s my final stop on the bus tour before I head out to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul.
It was quite an experience riding along in the pool bus and following every move of the Presidential nominee through Ohio, Indiana and Michigan.
The Name Game
There are plenty of acronyms that they use on these campaign bus trips. Today when I was in the pool I was “In The Bubble”. That means I was as close as anyone in the press is allowed to the candidate. I had my equipment swept at the “RON”. That’s short for Reporters Overnight, or the hotel where the press stays while on the bus trip. The stop we made at the restaurant at the lake was an “OTR”. That’s short for an Off The Record Stop. It isn’t announced ahead of time and we (the pool) are the only ones allowed to cover it. Each time I heard each of those terms from the Obama press people or from my colleagues for the first time I felt kind of stupid asking what it meant. I forgot one, Bravo. That means the pool bus is pulling up to an area where we will need to get out quickly to follow the candidate.
Happy Birthday Julia Miller
It was a 79th birthday that Julie Miller will never forget. The Hoosier was at Pier 32 at Lake Hamilton with her family celebrating her birthday. When Obama walked into the restaurant he walked right up to Julie and gave her a hug and a kiss. I haven’t been able to find out if the Obama press people told him it was her birthday party at that table. She said it was the most exciting thing that has ever happened to her (save for getting married, having kids and grandchildren). She told me she was on-the-fence before today but now she says the guy who made a surprise visit to her birthday party is getting her vote.
Barack’s Bus
I was surprised to find when I joined the Obama bus tour that the bus he and Joe Biden and their wives were driving around in is unmarked. I expected to see a big red, white and blue bus with Obama ’08 all over it. But that’s not the case. There were 10 vehicles in the Obama bus tour motorcade when I spent my day in the pool yesterday. Everywhere we went there were police officers stopping traffic and escorting us every step of the way. I’m not sure if candidates win any votes when people are stuck in traffic because of them. But boy does it move things along when you’re in the motorcade.
Faces In The Crowd
I’ve run into some at each event on this Obama bus trip who tell me they’re not going to vote for him but they are attending the campaign events because of all the excitement that is following the Democratic presidential nominee. Some have told me they are big McCain supporters, but they didn’t want to miss the big Obama event when it came through their town.
posted by Scott Wykoff @ 3:03 AM
<< Home