Today on the Trail with Obama and Romney
Posted: Thursday, May 31, 2007 6:10 PM by Jaclyn Levin
(From Melissa Dunlop, TODAY Associate Producer)
Behind-the-scenes of behind-the-scenes . . .
I spent Monday and Tuesday in New Hampshire following Senator Obama’s and Governor Romney’s campaigns for our Today on the Trail series. WATCH VIDEO Both days were exciting, sometimes chaotic and overall, exhausting!
A few observations:
Days on the campaign trail are LONG. It’s not sit at your desk, hide behind your computer type work. It’s meeting, greeting, in the car, out of the car, on a plane, off a plane.
We met Senator Obama’s team at their hotel at 7:15am, grabbed some oranges and coffee from the free continental breakfast and after a security sweep, hit the road. We spent the morning at events with veterans and senior citizens in Littleton, NH. After a quick lunch, stop at a local store and a house party, the Senator took the stage at Dartmouth in front of nearly 5,000 people. The crowd was a mix of students on study break (finals are just around the corner at Dartmouth) and locals. Around 4pm, after the Senator took his photo with campus volunteers, our crew caravanned to the airport, while Meredith interviewed Obama in his RV.
Our day with the Senator ended at the Lebanon, NH airport when he took off for MORE campaign events in Iowa. . . . Meredith flew home and we drove the tapes back to Hanover, NH, and fed them to the producer in NYC who edited the spot overnight. During the 8 mile drive back to our satellite truck, we passed 3 Dunkin Donuts- welcome to New England-and grabbed a much needed caffeine jolt . . . I don’t know how campaigns keep up this pace!!!!
On Tuesday, we met Governor Romney around 8:15am at Harvey’s bakery. He spent some time shaking hands and meeting with patrons eating breakfast. Next we drove to the Liberty Mutual HQ in Dover, NH and then stopped at another restaurant to meet with could-be-voters.
Matt flew to NH after Tuesday morning’s show and met up with the Governor at a luncheon in Rochester. At the event, Matt spoke with a gentleman who had listened to Mayor Giuliani a few weeks before and took politics seriously. It made me realize the unique opportunity voters in early primary states have- direct access to all the candidates. Before work, at lunch or after school, New Hampshire voters can ask questions THEY want answered. The man (or woman) they meet at a house party in their neighbor’s yard could very well be the next President.
Matt sat in the audience as Governor Romney addressed a packed auditorium of high school students. Finally, the two drove together to Hart’s Turkey Farm in Meredith, NH where Mrs. Romney met up for part of the interview.
After that, Matt flew home, and the crew shot one more event- a town hall in Laconia, NH. We fed the tapes back to NYC for yet, another overnight edit and then hit the only restaurant open after 10pm- TGI Fridays- for dinner.
Another long day but we were done On the Trail for the week. Only 522 days left until Election Day!
