Hillary Clinton Visit 2/22/08

Wow, two presidential candidates visiting in two days. Busy times here in Toledo. Anywho, Tony and I were on Hillary detail at Whitmer High School. Our job was to get reactions of anxious Clinton fans. That was easy. We were at a Clinton rally for crying out loud. We met this one lady who brought her Hillary Clinton doll. Yep. A doll. And not just any doll. This was the "healthcare edition" doll. That means there are probably different Hillary Clinton dolls out there, we thought. And there were. Right in the front row there were two women with two different Hillary dolls. Then I started imagining if I was a really high-profile person. And I had to come out and give a speech to my fans. And I came out and right in the front row I saw two people with dolls of myself. Dolls of myself. I think that might creep me out a tad. Not only would the idea of having a doll of myself creep me out. But seeing these people hold onto these dolls for dear life. That's worrysome. Anyways, they had this little media platform right next to the stage where she was going to speak. So, at the last minute Tony asked me if I was going to get some video from that platform. Sure, I said. So, I stood on that platform for one hour and twenty minutes. Hillary was late because they had to de-ice her plane in Columbus where she was coming from. Holy smokes were my feet on fire. Have you ever stood in one spot for more than twenty minutes? Painful. Anywho, it was pretty awesome once she came out to be in that gym. Everyone went crazy and I ended up being only about twelve feet from her. Watching the secret service do their thing was neat too. There were two different crews of secret service there. First, before she had even arrived at the building, there were two service people guarding the stage where she would speak. They roamed around, moderately checking out the crowd. Once she was at the school but before she came out, the two secret service crews switched and two new people came out. This time these two watched the crowd like hawks, keeping their backs to the stage at all times. They were constantly scanning everybody out there. It was pretty cool to see. Anyways, enjoy the pics and video.

-T

John McCain Visit 2/21/08

First I have to say how terrible a blogger I am. I promised to keep blogging on a regular basis and I haven't. I swear I will post regularly from now on. Please believe me.
Here are some pics and video from the John McCain bus visit to Charlie's Restaurant in Perrysburg. For some reason I find myself in situations where I end up being in the right place at the right time. These candidates travel with two buses. One for them and one for the traveling national media. Once both buses are stopped they let all the national media get off, setup, and get into place before they get the candidate off their own bus. That way when you watch World News Tonight it always looks like the media "just happened to be at that very burger joint McCain was visiting." Clever. Anywho, earlier that morning after Greg and I were finished with our live shots we headed down to the Park Inn hotel because by now the article about McCain had leaked and he had to give a national press conference before his Charlie's visit. We met Melissa Andrews and Shane, her photographer, down there at the hotel but then had to go directly to Charlie's to make sure we got him there. So, before I left I snapped some pics of the media platform for the national presser. Good stuff.
Anyways, getting back to the "right place at the right time" reference. Once both buses were parked at Charlie's the national media person got off the bus and yelled "National media!" while he pointed at the yellow rope they were supposed to follow which lead right up to McCain's tour bus door. So, what did I do? I got right in line and scurried along with the rest of them. That put me second in line, right after the photog from CNN. Heehee. Anywho, I got great video of McCain getting off the bus and shaking people's hands. Let me tell you, it's interesting to shoot steady video when you're standing in a blob of other photographers, unable to move, and one of them behind you (obviously a national guy) keeps saying "Behind you! Behind you! Watch your back!" Anyways, enjoy the pics and vid. These days are always fun.

-T