Driving in the Romney Motorcade by Lyn Bliss Darke County Ohio

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All lined up ready to start the tour – waiting for the plane to arrive.

All Lyn Bliss photos except the last one.

Living the Dream, Part 2
Driving in the Romney Motorcade
A firsthand experience inside a Presidential campaign
By Lyn Bliss

“Going to the Republican Convention was VERY exciting -- but today starts something that, to me, is even more exciting... will be leaving soon to drive in the Romney motorcade as Gov. Romney visits Ohio. Will be with them until late Thursday. It will be something to be where the inside of a Presidential campaign can be experienced firsthand!!” was what I sent to a friend in an email very early Tuesday morning.

It all started with a request from Michelle Clark, events coordinator for the Romney Campaign, asking me to find 4 drivers for the motorcade to accompany Governor Mitt Romney on his visit to Ohio. Being a very selfish person, my name went in the number one spot on the list. It was my goal to find ladies that were both members of the Ohio Federation of Republican Women and if they were small business owners it would be a plus. Dori Howdieshell, a fellow member of the Darke County Republican Women and owner of a tanning salon in Greenville was the first to join the ranks. Marissa Walters (“Missy Mae”), a member of Greater Dayton Republican Women’s Club and an independent consultant was the second to join the list. Lisa Crosley, a member of South Metro Republican Women’s Club and owner of a heating and cooling company in Kettering rounded out our group.

We received about five pages of information preceding our departure. Detailing everything from how we were to behave during “sweeping” (get out, open all doors and step away from the vehicle) to what to bring with us (cooler, umbrella, comfortable shoes, GPS, etc.). Along with warnings that this would involve long hours, not much sleep, driving a full-sized van and driving at high rates of speed.

One of the last emails that Clark sent said to let her know if we had any follow-up questions. Suffice it to say that it was a good thing we had her email address and cell phone number – she was our life line to the outside world, as we seemed to come up with an unending list of questions!!

We all were to meet with the fifth member of our group, Steve Ewing, at the Dayton Airport. The four of us had made several plans for meeting, but ended up eventually finding each other at the Avis section of the rental car return area. That was after Dori and my having driven around where the rental car area was previously, trying to get through road construction, and making several trips around the airport access road. We had been told that we could leave our personal cars at the Avis garage. The attendant was not very happy with that arrangement and it took her several calls before she agreed that the vehicles could be left there. We jokingly wondered if she might be a Democrat! What a way to start! But, we eventually made it and were met by Steve with a large SUV which we would all load into and drive to the Akron-Canton airport. Additionally, we were each given a bag with umbrellas, trash bags, napkins, plastic utensils, and charging stations.

It was an interesting trip – during which we all got to know each other a bit. We carried on a lot of political discussion and worked on programming Lisa’s GPS and getting Dori’s cell phone GPS working.

We arrived early and decided to go to Panera for a snack before we departed. It was a good thing we did, because we did not get any more food until about 10 p.m. that evening.

When we reported to the private air service, the vans were waiting and we each received the keys to the vehicle we would be driving for the tour. Our personal luggage and the “van travel bag we had been given were moved. We lined up and were swept -- which consisted of following instructions and then letting the security services and explosives sniffing dog go over them from top to undercarriage.

We were never told what changed, but instead of five vans, there were only four. The first day Dori rode along as an extra driver. On day two and three, Lisa opted to be the extra. This worked out very well, because after the van was swept, we were not to have it out of our sight… which makes it rather awkward for restroom breaks!

After we got swept we all lined up in the order we were told we should maintain during the tour, and headed for the apron of the taxiway. Shortly, the plane came into view, landed and taxied up very close to our line of vehicles. Off came a lot of folks and a lot of baggage and equipment. I was told that the plane has room for 99 staff/press people in addition to Governor Romney.

I sent the following email message home to my husband, “We're here & HE's here!! I am about 40 yards away...”

Governor Romney deplaned and met several people by his tour bus. After everyone had gathered their belongings and all of the bags and equipment had been loaded we were off. And what a drive we were about to experience. We were surrounded on all sides by police and security. We never stopped for a stop sign or traffic light. All roads were closed to other traffic and we were the only ones on a particular stretch of highway. All entrance ramps were closed until we passed. Luckily, on this first day, I had a Secret Service agent sitting in the front passenger seat and she was very helpful at telling me what to expect as we started the tour.

When driving on the freeways, we always were in the inside lane. We were to stay close enough together at all times so that another vehicle could not get between us – even though there were none there to do so.

We were told that we were going to the hotel and would be there for some time before we went on to the event location in Cuyahoga Falls. Partway there, the information came that there would be an “OTR” stop at Wendy’s (and truthfully, I thought that stood for “off the record”. Never did find out, but don’t think that is what it means, as the press went in with Gov. Romney. Now, just picture a huge tour bus, followed by 7 vehicles and then two bigger passenger buses going through a Wendy’s restaurant! It was quite an experience. While waiting in the van (because all the press had gone inside with Governor Romney) a lady walked close enough to the van to ask what was going on. I told her Mitt Romney is here. She said, “No way!”

We were told later that he had a chicken sandwich and a frosty. Shortly, we were on our way to the hotel, down cleared freeways and blocked off streets. It was interesting to hear the interplay between the Secret Service staff and the press members. They would talk with each other and then you would hear, “permission to use?” and be told either “yes” or “no”.

In speaking with the Secret Service agent, she said that she works for three weeks in the field and then is at the home office for three weeks. She had just come back from three weeks at home. From speaking with some of the press members, it sounded like they may have a similar rotation schedule.

We arrived at the hotel and all the passengers went in. We sat in our vans and waited (the vans were not to be out of our sight). While waiting, Senator Rob Portman arrived and he came over and chatted for a bit. Also, Governor Christie arrived, but was never close enough to speak with.

While sitting in front of the hotel, I contacted Michelle about food and a rest stop, “Not sure about the food -- know we can survive without that --- however, potty breaks are another thing all together!! Haven't seen one since around 3 p.m. Will get important in another hour or so!!”

To which I received, “Yes, most definitely! I need to make sure food and potty breaks are occurring. Keep me posted on what I need to do to make sure you guys are okay!”

Meanwhile, the secret service agent had returned and my next communication to Michelle was, “Never mind -- the secret service lady said it was OK as long as one person stays with the vehicle. So, will tend it when we get to the venue.”

Soon, everyone returned, we got back into line and were off to the venue for the first speaking engagement, with all of us drivers wondering if we would see any food or get a rest stop.

As we pulled into the venue, there were people lining the streets several deep, waving and cheering. As we came inside the security perimeter, the Romney bus and the three cars holding secret service went left and my secret service agent was telling me to go straight ahead and there was a local policeman standing straight in front of me saying stop… I was not sure what to do as they both carried guns and I surely didn’t want to run anyone down and be the major news story for that segment of the Romney campaign! The local policeman finally realized that there was secret service aboard the van and moved. Whew!

After we unloaded everyone – and trust me those folks could get out of a vehicle on the run – I sent the following email message, “About 25 yards away--no line, no waiting, drive up and get out!! Sweet!!”

To quote a friend, yes, I did “feel like a 10-year old in a candy store with an unlimited credit!”

The official count (from the Romney coordinator – and the press were told that yes they could use it) was over 12,000. Later the report was that not everyone could get in because there was a larger crowd than expected. As I said, there were people lining the street on both sides as we arrived and again when we left, so that seems like a truthful report.

When we returned to the hotel, it took about 30 seconds flat for everyone to be out of the vans and inside the hotel…

And, there we sat, wondering what to do. Another call to Michelle (bless her heart), and pretty soon we had three of the vans parked and were in the fourth and headed to our hotel. When we got all checked-in (around 10 p.m.) Dori, Missy Mae and Steve went out to dinner. Lisa and I went to our rooms.

For security reasons, we were not given much information until the “last minute”. We were informed right before retiring about what time we were to be lined up to be swept the next morning, We weren’t informed about where we would be staying until we were on the road for the day. We just followed the van in front of us….and the first vehicle followed the Romney bus.

The next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel and went back to retrieve the other vans and be swept. The dog doing the “sniffing” and its handler were walking around and they said that my van was complete. I walked around the back, not knowing the dog and handler were just around the rear corner. As I came face to face with the handler, the dog thought I was attacking the handler. Needless to say, my heart went pitter pat for quite some time after that!!!

We loaded everyone up and were on the road, headed for Mt. Vernon. The first stop was at Ariel – manufacturers of gas compression equipment. Romney was given a tour and then spoke to a small “town hall” style audience.

While he was speaking, we were given lunch and went in shifts to the restroom.

Along the route through Mt. Vernon, and as we entered Delaware, people were out on the roadsides waving, cheering and beeping their horns.

We were ahead of schedule on the way to Delaware, and as there was a very limited amount of space for unloading, the arrival at the Delaware stop was “staged” (done in two parts). The Romney bus and our vans stopped and waited at a church. We had a motorcycle escort at this time; please see the picture of them lined up waiting to take us on our way.

When we were on our way it was to go to Bun’s in Delaware. The street was blocked off and the Romney bus and our vans were inside the perimeter. While we were there, additional security was in place – and those guys carried the BIG guns!

The bakery came out with lunches for us and great pies and cakes! What a treat we had. Then we were on our way to Sidney. That was quite a drive, as most of it was on two lane roads.

On the way, one of the press asked the Romney representative about the expected crowd size. The answer was “several thousand”. When I heard that, I really thought that they had seriously underestimated – because I would have guessed that it would be more in the 4-5,000 range.

Upon arrival at the Shelby County Fairgrounds we were told to back our vans in so we would be ready to line up behind the Romney bus and go over to the area where the event would occur.

Governor Kasich arrived and went into the barn with Gov. Romney. All of a sudden out came a security agent and very brusquely told Dori not to answer her phone (because it was ringing) and to follow him. Then he came and just as brusquely told me to end my call and come with him. All of us eventually entered the barn where Romney was. What a treat!! There were only about 20 people with Gov. Romney and Gov. Kasich. We were able to greet him and speak briefly with him. Then we were told that we could have our picture taken with him. I would never, in my life have thought I would be having my picture taken with a man who may be the next President of the United States inside a horse barn at a rural fairground!! But, that is exactly what happened.

Shortly after that was completed, we were sent back to our vans to wait until everyone got back into the vehicles and we drove over to the venue. I knew that my husband was there, but never did get to see him. We were in our vans right behind the stage and got to hear the speech.

When all was loaded and we were on the road to the hotels in Miamisburg the press asked what the official count was. The answer was, “Over 9,000.” Wow – West Central Ohio certainly turned out for Romney!

Upon arrival at the hotels in Miamisburg, it was once again a study in how quickly the passengers could vacate the vehicles and get into the buildings. There we were… sitting in the street. This time we decided that we knew where we were going to be staying (right across the street) and we would just go ahead and drive over, check in and call it a night. If anyone needed us, they knew where to find us. So, that is exactly what we did.

The only problem was that we had no idea when they wanted us to be ready to be swept in the morning. Another call to Michelle… While I waited for her to call back with an answer, I fell asleep in the office-type chair with my Blackberry in my hands. When she called, I about fell out of the chair! Recovered, got the necessary information and called the other drivers. After which I promptly went to bed and to sleep!

We were up the next morning for breakfast, lined up, swept and ready to go… and waited, and waited… and waited. Evidently there were some plan changes as we did not depart as originally informed. As a result, we were all worried that we were going to be running out of gas. All of our vans were left with enough fuel to drive 80 miles or less. Fortunately, the airport was less than 30 miles away. There was discussion about having a fuel stop… but that was not done. Imagine it would have been a real headache for security.

We arrived at the airport and again, it was the usual swift exit out of the vans… but, this time the passengers all thanked me for driving them.

It was sort of sad to see the plane lift off and know that we would not be going on with them. But, oh boy! What an treat it had been to actually experience the inside of a Presidential campaign!

My main observation is, I came home exhausted after three days on the campaign trail. Gov. Romney was with us all of those three days and was going on to do 26 more days of the same hectic schedule… I seriously do not know how the candidates do it!!

And, as soon as I got in my own vehicle, the realization hit that stop signs once again meant stop and speeding was frowned upon rather than encouraged!