12/29/07
Today was Hillary Clinton Day! Instead of keeping my readers (all three of you not including my parents) in an uncomfortable state of anticipation, I will tell you that today I shook hands with the next President of the United States. This is a feeling that I cannot even describe. The best I can do is turn it into an analogy: Me meeting Hillary: a 14 year old girl meeting Justin Timberlake. The event in its entirety lasted approximately thirty seconds, yet those thirty seconds will probably be the most memorable of the evening. Along with shaking the Senator’s hand and introducing myself, the campaign photographer took a picture of me, Hillary, and two Iowa staff members.
I will also share the story of how I weaseled my way into the back room in order to meet the Hillary. When we got to the event, I started talking to one of the staff members who works in the office. The event coordinator came up to him and asked if he had ever met the Senator. This staffer said he hadn’t, and the event coordinator told him that he could meet her after the event. I heard all of this and asked the staffer if I could meet Hillary as well, and he told me to just stay close towards the end of the event. I did as instructed, but was not led to the back room with the staffer. This minor set back did not stop me, I asked another person running the event if I could get back there to meet the Senator, and no holds bar gave him the puppy dog eyes. He said he would ask, and one minute later, I was in the back room meeting Hillary Clinton.
After I shook her hand and the picture was taken, she was off to the next event. We were also scheduled to work at the last event on her stop to help set up, then run that event. On the way to Manchester from Maquoketa, we got lost! Driving in the dark through the foggy Iowa countryside, is NOT my idea of a good time on the campaign trail. After a very horror-movie like experience, we made it to our destination, a quaint middle school. Hillary made her speech, probably for the eighth time that day, and was just as eloquent and persuasive as ever.