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McCain’s ‘meatball express’ was a gas
It wasn’t the first motorcade I’ve ever been in, but the one by John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, from the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Vienna to the MVR in Youngstown was the most interesting.
Just being in a motorcade with a president or presidential candidate is an incredible experience that never grows old.
The campaign asked me and Robert K. Yosay, chief photographer for The Vindicator, to be the “local pool press” for the rally with McCain and Sarah Palin, his vice presidential running mate. The job allowed me get a better seat at the rally, stand on the tarmac when McCain got off the plane and if I wanted to, ride in the motorcade.
Reporters who’ve done this more than once typically decline to be in the pool if there’s no motorcade to a place where the candidate makes what campaigns call “unscheduled stops.” That’s because anything that happens away from those not in the local pool press must be shared with any print reporters who want the information.
A McCain staffer asked Bob and me at the rally if we wanted to ride in the motorcade after the rally. We asked if McCain was going anywhere. She responded saying she didn’t know. Knowing you can get dropped off anywhere and then have to find a ride home, we were noncommittal.
She came back a few minutes later and said it would be a good idea to be in the motorcade. She still didn’t know where we were going. But we were told it wouldn’t be a long ride and we should really come. With those specific details, how could we say no?
As is tradition, the “local pool press” rides in the motorcade’s last van.
Another tradition is various law enforcement agencies, led by the Ohio State Highway Patrol, handle traffic and security for the motorcade. I was in one in 2004 that got President Bush from the airport to Youngstown State University in 12 minutes.
We jumped into our van and figured McCain would go to the Yankee Kitchen in Vienna, just down the road from the rally site, because it “wouldn’t be a long ride.”
We drove right by Yankee Kitchen so there went that guess.
The motorcade went on to state Route 82 heading west, which seemed to bother Ohio Department of Transportation workers striping the road. They had to stop work so we could pass.
Things started to break down on the 711 connector. A renegade maroon sedan drove along side us — a big no-no. It took a while but a trooper got him to pull over.
It was complete chaos on Interstate 680 with other vehicles driving in the middle of the motorcade. It didn’t help that no one told our driver where we were going so she had to floor it to stay with the other McCain vehicles.
While the campaign wants us to believe these visits are unscheduled, they’re actually planned.
A senior policy adviser for Palin called Mark Munroe, the Mahoning County Republican vice chairman, the evening before the rally asking where to go in Youngstown for lunch at a restaurant with a “blue-collar flavor” that best represents Youngstown. Munroe must like Italian food because he suggested the MVR.
The adviser also asked Munroe about the correct pronunciation of certain communities and names. That includes Vienna, the site of the rally. Palin pronounced it like the Austrian city at first, but got it right the rest of the time.
McCain advisers also asked Munroe if he knew of a local typical, blue-collar, working-class family to join the candidate and his wife, Cindy, for dinner.
The campaign also selected another family at the event to join the McCains.
Spaghetti and meatballs
Bob and I were permitted to go into the restaurant for a few minutes. He took photos. I talked to the co-owner and watched the McCains eat spaghetti and meatballs.
After the meal, I spoke to the two families about eating with the McCains. Both said it was an enjoyable experience.
The next morning, McCain told a national audience on ABC’s “Good Morning America” about the dinner.
“Last night I had dinner with a man who’s a teacher; his wife — his wife is a teacher. He’s a locksmith. Another family, the mother is a nurse. They’re the fundamentals of America. They’re still strong.”
They may be “the fundamentals of America” [whatever that means] and “still strong,” but the locksmith’s wife works at a church and not as a teacher. The supposed nurse actually works for the Aurora Chamber of Commerce.
So much for straight talk.