Karen Tumulty, correspondent for Time Magazine (dead tree and online) and contributor to the magazine's political blog Swampland, traveled with the Obama campaign. At the end, she stuck a tape recorder in people's faces and asked them what they'd remember. My favorite, from Robert Gibbs, senior great communications strategist and now (almost) Press Secretary for the Obama White House:
There's a rhythm to all this that you have to get used to. Most people in the country had heard him speak once, and it was at the 2004 Democratic Convention. So when he went to a meet and greet with voters, people expected to hear the convention speech. That took a little getting used to. During the primary season, at one of the labor cattle calls in D.C., he was the last [of nine candidates] to speak. There are about eight things that you're going to say to this group, and they've all now been said. I remember he was down after that because he just couldn't understand why it had gone so poorly. So we're flying to Iowa, and Reggie [Love, his personal assistant] and he are sitting next to each other, and I'm saying, "Senator, you just have to figure out how to enjoy this, you have to figure out how to have a little fun. Are you having any fun right now?" And he said, "I'm not having any fun at all." And Reggie, without blinking an eye, pipes up and says, "Man, I'm having the time of my life!"
Bonus: NYT story on President Obama's "body man," Reggie Love...with pix. Be sure to check out this young man's fine self in the pix.
Green eyed. Green eyed envy here for Reggie Love. What an adventure. What a job.
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