Let's Call Him...

Thank you for the suggestions for the new acronym. I'm thinking of going with WBPOTUS-R for McCain. (Wanna Be POTUS-Republican) And that will mean that Obama will be WBPOTUS-D. I have to be fair, objective, and treat them the same. I almost said fair and balanced but that just drives me crazy because then I get all these suggestions that I should go work for FOX. And I'm confident that I'm the exact place where God wants me right now. Anyway, I digress and don't mean to come across bitter (I attribute any hints of that to being tired)... on to the day's events!!!

This morning was my first time covering a political event that did not involve POTUS. It's a whole different ballgame when it's not actually the POTUS. I was in Fairfax this morning at the McCain-Palin rally where they drew their largest crowd. 23,000 people! 23,000 very excited people!

We showed up at 4:45a at the park. At that point, they hadn't even really set up where the security perimeter was truly going to be. I think it changed about ten times in about an hour. We set up our liveshot location three different times in three different places. At one point, the USSS (none of the agents were friends of mine- that force is HUGE!) told me that I couldn't go back and forth between the satellite truck and the live location. That would have been kind of sucky but fine but I decided to challenge it just a little bit. I just asked the right questions and when I used the right words and next thing you know they agreed to let the secure area expand. They even let me park my car on site which they didn't let pretty much ANYONE else. I don't know what it is but I really have a way with making friends with the agents. I also convinced the McCain staff to rope off an area where we could have space without the 23,000 people in our faces. That was so nice because there were a lot of people as previously mentioned and I think everyone was rather cozy by the end of it.

We did liveshots in the morning and then watched the rally. I actually have never been to a political event that big, with the exception of the inauguration. But as far as political rallies go, this was by far the biggest I've personally been to. It was perhaps the most unorganized event from my perspective I've been to. But I don't blame them. They only had 15 hours to put it together and it was HUGE. The WBPOTUS-R's team were exceptionally helpful to us!

At the end of the rally, I had to feed tape so I was escorted out of the crowd with WBPOTUS-R staff (ok, that acronym might not last long because that is complicated to type and doesn't roll off the tongue like POTUS) and they left me standing right by the Straight Talk Express (STE in pool reports) which also meant that I was up close and personal to WBPOTUS-R and WBVPOTUS-R. They weren't facing me but I did sort of get close. Closer than most of the 23,000 people (except Darla and Savonne) got to them. I know my pictures aren't the best but then I make myself feel better by telling myself that I'm really there to work so picture-taking is not my focus, literally and figuratively. Plus, I'm inspired to get a new camera even more! But here are some of the shots from the day.

I did survive the day although I'm not going to lie to you, I barely did. I don't know what I was thinking when I got dressed this morning and decided wearing two and half inch heels to run around in the wet grass and mud all morning. And then I stood on a fairly steep hill for about three hours. I'm not sure if my feet will forgive me. I just took my shoes off when I got back to the bureau because my feet were screaming at me. For the next nine hours, I went around my office in my bare feet and remarkably I could finally walk to the car to come home and collapse on my couch! It was a great day and I feel like it was a success for my first day on the trail- even if it was only ten miles from home!