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