I'm sorry I didn't get to post anything yesterday but holy moley, I was sooooo busy! We've been in a different state every day and sometimes I actually forget where we are. Yesterday I know we were in Vienna, OH or was it Youngstown? We were actually at the Youngstown airport in tiny Vienna and my network insisted on referring to it as Vienna. But the local people said it didn't matter. On top of that, they don't say Vienna like the city in Austria (or Virginia) or even the sausage. It's pronounced VIE-anna. I mean come on. Have these people never heard of at least the sausage? Luckily, someone told Palin the right pronunciation so she looked waaaay smart when she said it. VIE-anna was tiny but friendly and the chili from the Yankee Kitchen (one of the only restaurants) really hit the spot while freezing at the liveshot location.
The McCain-Palin rally was in an airport hangar and there were probably 7000-8000 people there... packed in there like sardines and I'm sure it had to have been some sort of fire code violation in place. We were busy doing liveshots, filing a piece, etc. all while trying to concentrate over the high school band playing the songs from their fall show. I don't know if you've ever sat right next to a high school band INSIDE a hangar but suffice it to say, it's quite loud. I'm pretty sure my hearing declined yesterday even more than it already has. And I'm pretty sure that I recognized the songs they played from my days in the high school band. (Yes, I'm aware that I just geeked myself out big time. But it's true!)
I'm amazed at how many people just LOVE Palin and really don't care much about McCain. Yesterday, I couldn't count the number of people (mostly women) who just left the rally when Sarah finished talking. They didn't even stay for the nominee for POTUS!! I'm not here to cast any political views because I'm an independent-minded journalist but I had to point out that it was quite an amazing sight to see!
We had liveshots every hour (sometimes twice an hour) all the way until 10pm and boy did it get cold once the sun went down. It was an incredibly busy afternoon and pretty much spent my time dealing with "crisis" after "crisis". These situations always seem to be huge at the moment but after it's all said and done, we always survive. For example, we were doing a liveshot at 6pm and they were breaking down the stage, risers, etc. So right in the middle of my liveshot, they were taking down the huge "Country First" sign that was our background of our shot, so I had to run over there and negotiate, BEG for them to leave it be for a few minutes. I won the first part of the argument but then lost the part when I asked them to wait for another 15 minutes for our next shot. So we had to hustle and set up a new liveshot location (which is not enough time!) We succeeded and it was all good in the end but with other "crises", it made for a very stressful few hours. Oh, nothing everything survived. In the said breakdown of the stage, the tearer-downers through away my blackberry holster. So now my precious crackberry is naked without any holder. But thank God it still works the same! Anyway, that might be TMI into some of what goes on and it might confuse you to what is my actual job. Don't worry, even my mom doesn't quite understand what it is that I actually do.
Speaking of Mom, she suggests a new acronym... actually two... we've got PLOTUS (Potential Leader of the United States) or WHOTUS (Wannabe Head of the United States)... I kind of like WHOTUS so we'll give that a try.
After the rally and all our liveshots, we drove the hour back to Cleveland only to find out that our reservations at the Marriott were cancelled (long story) and the only rooms we could find were at the Ritz Carlton. It's where Palin was staying and I was hoping to run into her this morning but we left really early to do some more liveshots. Let's just say it's never a good thing when the same girl at the front desk checks you in and checks you out. When that happens, I call that an overnight nap. So I enjoyed my room for about 5 hours total. However, and I realize that I might come across incredibly snobby when I say this, but the Ritz wasn't all that. I mean, I'm sure there are humongous suites but my room was just a standard room with really nice shampoo and conditioner. Don't worry, I survived "slumming" it.
We're now on our way to the international hotspot of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I'm really getting to see the coolest places in America on this trip!
BTW, my camera died... at some point I need to recharge the batteries but I didn't bring the charger... So sorry. I feel like I've let my blog readers down!! Just watch the news or read the paper and that will be what it looks like. Maybe when I have more time, I'll sift through friends Facebook photos and steal them! :)
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