Background: Originally published October 20, 2004. Medford Airport manager Bern Case said they would not have been able to accommodate a Presidential visit, had it been a few years earlier. But in 2004, the airport was able to welcome Air Force Once and the Presidential entourage that arrived in Medford on a 747. However, the Medford airport was closed to all commercial flights during the President's stopover in Medford. President Bush spoke at the expo. center in Central Point, next to Medford, and he stayed at the historic Jacksonville Inn.
"President Bush is having filet mignon and a non-alcoholic beer at the Jacksonville Inn." KOBI-TV reporter Andrew Hasbun was able to "scoop" everyone else with that tidbit of trivia. That's because one of Andrew's friends was dining inside the Jacksonville Inn and was able to talk with Andrew over a cell phone to communicate the President's menu.
Listening to Andrew's experiences as the Medford television pool camera was only aspect of the intense, non-stop exhilaration of covering the President's visit to Jackson County.
The NewsChannel employed team coverage of the President's visit. Kelly Morris was at the airport for his arrival in Air Force One. I was at the Jackson County Expo. Center to report on his speech. Brian Clark covered the crowd's reaction at the expo center rally. Selena Davis was in Jacksonville for the "riots," and Andrew Hasbun was the Oregon television pool camera, who rode around with the national press corps inside the President's motorcade.
KOBI-TV had live shots from the airport, live shots from the expo. center, and live shots from Jacksonville. It was THE story of the day.
I found the experience to be an educational one. I had covered the appearances of political figures before: Dick Cheney, John Edwards, and others. But I had never before encountered the intense, and in my opinion silly, security restrictions imposed by the Secret Service.
Every other political rally that I've been at had a separate media area, but not this one. That was okay because I showed up three hours early at the expo. center, just in case I had to deal with contingencies such as this. As another reporter from channel 10 and myself attempted to push our way through the line to find the press credential table, a few people wondered why we were cutting in line. It was a good thing that I was wearing my "press pass," an object that I never needed prior to this election year.
We found the press credential table. The Secret Service had performed background checks on all registered members of the news media. One would think it would be smooth sailing from the press table to the press platform...but it wasn't.
One escort took us from the press table to a point inside one of the fairground buildings (point A to point B). From there, another escort took us about a hundred feet further up to the line to wait for still another escort (point B to point C). We had to wait a few minutes at each checkpoint.
The third escort took us up to the lines with metal detectors (point C to point D). Sure enough, the Secret Service confiscated a pocketknife and a bottle of Pepsi from my photographer. I had kept my mouth shut so far.
But then, the agent wanted to take my 64-unce Chiller mug of ice water! I firmly told the agent that I was a reporter, I needed the water to remain cool, and that I had no idea why the news media were being run through the public metal detector, when we had separate passes to enter a separate secure area.
The agent asked me to take a drink of my water, and then he waved me through. One of my colleagues from channel 10 wasn't as fortunate. The Secret Service agent took her water bottle and informed her she could purchase water inside.
After she was through the metal detector, the reporter spied a case of water bottles and helped herself to a few. The agent yelled at her and told her that was HIS water. The reporter shot back, "You took my water, so I'm taking some of yours." The agent didn't challenge her any further.
Oh well, perhaps it's just as well that new news media didn't drink too much water in the 80-plus degree weather in the open sun. That's because we were restricted to the media platform after 5:00p.m. The President spoke from 6:05-6:45p.m. No restroom breaks after 5:00p.m. No leaving for any reason. If you left, you didn't come back.
Despite my tussle with the Secret Service agent, I was still in fairly good mood. Until I saw the reporter from KGW-TV in Portland walking around in the searing heat wearing a dress jacket. I groaned to myself.
I had neglected to grab my dress jacket during my first trip inside the rally. I wasn't about to go back outside to get my jacket, run the gauntlet again, and risk the Secret Service confiscating my 64-ounce water mug during the return trip inside.
Just then I saw KOIN-TV anchor Mike Donahue wearing only a tie, so I didn't feel as bad. Donahue has been the lead anchor in Portland for decades. I still remember watching him in the 1970s, when the Sutherlin-Oakland cable system offered KOIN as one of its channels. He set the trend as far as I was concerned. I was nearly as excited going up to meet Mike Donahue face-to-face, ad I was in seeing President Bush a hundred yards away.
But, back to the President. There were no protestors or hecklers a the rally. Even though the Secret Service had confiscated everything of significance, dissenters could have still created a distraction by shouting down the President. But they didn't.
Apparently, the Bush protestors wanted to make their stand at Jacksonville. Police reportedly used non-lethal beanbags to clear the street of a few protestors who refused to clear the way. But, after 10:00p.m., things had quieted down in this sleepy town.
I asked one of my co-workers which local newscast was the President probably watching that night? I knew KOBI-TV had out-performed the other two Medford stations with exclusive bits of information. I had hoped our team coverage wouldn't go unnoticed.
My co-worker responded that the President wasn't going to bother watching any news that night. The President would be going to bed early after spending a long day in Nevada and Oregon, out in the open sun.
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