Hillary Clinton, running late again, helps hot dog sales in Indiana
All political campaigns have schedules, meticulously designed about two weeks out and refined day by day. These printed booklets are each workday's bible. They are helpful and valid until the first event of the morning. When every
thing starts running behind.
No candidate seeking votes, obviously, can pass up 20 more eager hands in the rope line waiting to be shaken. And autographs to be signed. And photos to be taken so someone can prove someday they were once, however briefly, in the presence of fame.
Every candidate also has a designated "bad cop," a staff person whose job it is to tear the candidate away, seemingly reluctantly, from yet another group of supporters so that it's not the candidate walking away to keep the campaign caravan at least within shouting distance of the day's planned timetable.
As a candidate, George W. Bush was so strict about punctuality for every event that his caravan many times left behind his staffers who were even two minutes tardy. They were on their own to catch up somehow. Other campaigns have been known to run hours late.
Today, Sen. Hillary Clinton, like her husband in campaign days of....
yore, was running at least an hour late for her Hoosier “economic town hall” at the Hammond Civic Center in Indiana.
Trying to placate the 1,500 people who'd arrived early to clear security and already had been waiting for hours, various musical acts and local officials took the stage to implore the increasingly impatient people to hang on for her arrival any minute, they were sure. The wise political advance crew, knowing their candidate's proclivities well, will have such entertainment standing by to fill the seemingly endless void.
Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott, who's among seven northwest Indiana mayors backing Clinton, pleaded with the people over the loudspeaker system to eschew the civic center’s hot dogs and please return to their seats for the senator's suspected arrival any minute now. The crowd apparently questioned the mayor's credibility.
“I know those hot dogs are good,” McDermott said at one point, “but Sen. Clinton is 20 times better than that.”
You want mustard with that?
--Andrew Malcolm and Rick Pearson
Rick Pearson writes for the Swamp of the Chicago Tribune's Washington Bureau.
Photo: Newsday
Don Frederick has served as an editor helping guide coverage of every presidential election since 1984. He is a third-generation Washingtonian, so watching the political world comes naturally to him.
Andrew Malcolm's immigrant parents repeatedly stressed the importance of active participation in a democracy. Early lessons included learning the alphabetical list of states by watching televised roll calls of national political conventions. That childhood exposure led to a lifelong fascination with politics, including 40-plus years of covering them and a brief stint practicing them as press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000.
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9 of 10 times u r late how could u wake up and pick up the REDPHONE at 3am ???????????
Posted by: zach | March 29, 2008 at 06:39 AM
PEOPLE FROM INDIANA DO NOT FORGET OBAMA'S PASTOR AND FAMILY SPEACH. GOD DAMB AMERICA. VOTE FOR CLINTON!
Posted by: rosalynneus | March 29, 2008 at 06:40 AM
Please don't take the voice of everyone in Indiana. Obama;s pastor isn't hurting him at all and the last time I checked his pastor wasn't running for president... ? Oh, and your caps lock is turned on.
Great headline for the blog by the way. It made me read it. As someone from Indiana who has lived and worked all over the state, Clinton in Hammond seems pretty interesting to me. She could've just hit Gary and said what she was really trying to say. No?
Posted by: Joey | March 29, 2008 at 12:16 PM
Rosalynneus...please go to school...
SPEACH is spelled SPEECH...
DAMB is spealled DAMN...
Your comment should read like this...
PEOPLE FROM INDIANA, DO NOT FORGET OBAMA'S PASTOR AND HIS SPEECH ABOUT FAMILY AND GOD-DAMN AMERICA. VOTE FOR CLINTON.
It is embarassing American people like you to why people vote Republican, and why we, as a people, are known as DUMB-Americans world-wide. Your spelling (or lack of it) gives them proof. You are pathetic. Adult Education is FREE you know, even in Indiana.
Posted by: edwina | March 29, 2008 at 01:38 PM
Hillary -
Why do you continue your campaign of fear and destruction!?
Why do you continue to keep so much information secret!?
Why do you continue to misspeak on items accross the board!?
Why do you continue to mislead your supporters!?
Why don't you suuport unity!?!?
Posted by: Why!? | March 29, 2008 at 03:39 PM
With Obama to the left of her and McCain to the right--
Hillary Clinton is the best choice for President--strong on the economy, healthcare, and foreign policy.
Posted by: ELG | March 29, 2008 at 06:14 PM