Memo From the National Affairs Desk: Seventeen Days on the Campaign Trail
Posted on | January 11, 2012 | 5 Comments
P.J. O’Rourke encounters Andrew Breitbart at the
Manchester, N.H., Radisson Bar, Saturday, Jan. 7, 2012
PHILADELPHIA
“Wheels up” from Boston’s Logan Airport was at 1:09 p.m., and as Flight 1727 ascended from the runway, I noticed the houses that dotted the little spits of land jutting out into the bay. There were docks and piers and even an apartment building or two, and from my window seat (5A) I looked down and wondered about the people who live there in the airport flight path. Then the US Airways jet banked right, toward the south and, after a while, I recognized the familiar fishook shape of the Provincetown peninsula.
Flying has become a more commonplace experience for me in the past three years of campaign coverage, but it’s not so common that I take it for granted. I still pray at takeoff — the most dangerous part of any flight — and take notes about my journeys, even if I never actually turn those notes into anything for publication.
Half a century ago, the phrase “jet set” described the lives of the glitterati, in an age when frequent air travel was the prerogative of the affluent. Nowadays, air travel is for everybody: salesmen and tourists and even bloggers out covering the presidential election campaign. So it was that I found myself sitting in coach class reading the New York Times on my flight from Boston to Philly.
Nobody on the plane recognized me as a “media celebrity,” even though only a few days earlier I’d been hanging out with guys like Jake Tapper and Andrew Breitbart in Manchester. Also, the man with the hat with the pink camera kept showing up in the background of TV shots like this Monday interview with CNN’s Dana Bash and Ron Paul:
Hey, I’m just a blogger. During the course of this trip, by my count, I’ve filed 51 posts in 17 days, in addition to 11 columns for The American Spectator:
- A Cruel Night in New Hampshire January 11, 2012
- Ron Paul Haunts New Hampshire January 10, 2012
- Is It Still Mitt’s Turn? January 9, 2012
- Will New Hampshire ‘Join the Fight’? January 6, 2012
- An All-American Miracle January 4, 2012
- Waiting for Answers in Iowa January 3, 2012
- Hope in the Heartland January 2, 2012
- Weird Week in the Hawkeye State December 30, 2011
- Iowa’s Final Flavor of the Month? December 29, 2011
- Generic Republican December 28, 2011
- Hunting in the Hawkeye State December 27, 2011
It’s been a pretty productive trip, whatever the discouragement of Mitt Romney’s continued march toward “inevitability.” Maybe we can stop him in South Carolina, but first I’ve got to fly home for a couple of days.
The National Affairs Desk at the Riverbend Bar & Grill,
Philadelphia Airport, 3:30 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012
My flight to D.C. takes off in less than an hour, and I’ve got to close down the National Affairs Desk here at the airport hotel bar and make it through the routine security hassles before they call final boarding. This leaves me just enough time to write The Five Most Important Words in the English Language: Hit the freaking tip jar!
— 30 —
RECENTLY:
- Jan. 11:Philly Layover Musings: The Republican Party Is Depraved and Decadent
- Jan. 11: Departing from Logan: Live Free or …
- Jan. 10: NEW HAMPSHIRE PRIMARY HQ UPDATE: Romney Wins; Ron Paul Second; Huntsman Third; Gingrich, Santorum Fight for Fourth Place
- Jan. 10: Maybe This Explains My Problem
- Jan. 10: Ron Paul and the ‘Not Romneys’
- Jan. 10: Rick Santorum Dodges an Issue?
- Jan. 9: Among the Paulistas in New Hampshire
- Jan. 9: Ron Paul Campaign Flyer Emphasizes Opposition to Gay Marriage, Abortion
- Jan. 9: Media Mayhem in the Granite State
- Jan. 8: Bitter Fruits of a Bitter Seed: Envy, Feminism, Maureen and Meghan
- Jan. 9: Sunday Morning Coming Down in New Hampshire ‘Meet the Depressed’ Debate
- Jan. 7: POST-DEBATE SPIN ROOM
- Jan. 7: ABC NEW HAMPSHIRE DEBATE
- Jan. 7: Santorum Surge Hits Hollis, N.H. UPDATE: Photos, Videos Added
- Jan. 7: Cain Still Loved in New Hampshire
- Jan. 7: Rick Santorum Speech in Nashua: ‘New Hampshire, Send a Message’
- Jan. 6: Two Excellent Arguments in Favor of a Jon Huntsman Presidency
- Jan. 6: Newt Meets the Media in Nashua
- Jan. 6: Ron Paul Rally in Nashua, N.H.
- Jan. 5: Rick Santorum in Windham, N.H.
- Jan. 5: Rick Santorum in Concord, N.H.
- Jan. 5: Greetings From the Granite State!
- Jan. 5: Memo From the National Affairs Desk: Eight Days in a Mustang Later …
- Jan. 4: Iowa Victory Lap
- Jan. 4: Bachmann Quits 2012 Campaign
- Jan. 4: News Of Rick Santorum’s Iowa Triumph Reaches A Certain Bunker. . .
- Jan. 3: IOWA CAUCUS RESULTS HQ UPDATE: Santorum Surge in Precinct Numbers Exceeds Poll Projections
- Jan. 3: Pre-Caucus Night Nap Time
- Jan. 3: Desperate Hours in the Hawkeye State
- Jan. 3: Remember the Crying Girl?
- Jan. 2: Santorum, Duggars, And Fundraising As The Deadline Looms
- Jan. 2: Media Scrum Is Heavy At Santorum Event
- Jan. 2: Santorum Attacked in Iowa With Same Smear Used Earlier Against Gingrich
- Jan. 2: The Familiar Pattern Emerges Again
- Jan. 1: Don’t Underestimate Rick Santorum’s Campaign Strength in New Hampshire
- Jan. 1: Rick Santorum Talks Steelers Football
- Jan. 1: SANTORUM SURGE SUNDAY: Final Poll Makes Front-Page News in Des Moines
- Dec. 31: ‘Occupy’ Protesters at Bachmann HQ: Proof That Gardasil Causes Retardation?
- Dec. 31: Michele Bachmann Flyer Omits Comparison to Records of Santorum, Paul
- Dec. 31: Perry Campaign’s Amateur Hour
- Dec. 30: ‘Quite a Difference!’
- Dec. 30: Guess Who’s Gonna Be Watching Hawkeye Football Tonight With Rick Santorum?
- Dec. 30: New Polls Confirm Santorum Surge in Iowa; Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry Fading
- Dec. 30: Rick Santorum to Ann Coulter: ‘I Mean, Ann, Should I Have Voted for Amnesty?’
- Dec. 29: IOWA NOTEBOOK: Occupy Caucuses?
- Dec. 29: ‘Everyone Sells Out in Iowa’
- Dec. 29: Rick Santorum Gets ‘The Kind of Optics a Cash-Strapped Candidate Can’t Buy’
- Dec. 28: SANTORUM SURGE: Finally, the Polls in Iowa Are Catching Up With … Me
- Dec. 28: Greetings From the Quad City
- Dec. 28: When the Story Writes Itself
- Dec. 27: The Santorum Surge: Mainstream Media Finally Beginning to See Omens in Iowa
- Dec. 27: Republicans With Shotguns
- Dec. 26: Santorum Gets 4 ‘Clean Kills’ in Pheasant Hunt With Steve King; No Endorsement
- Dec. 26: Greetings From Iowa
- Dec. 26: Fear and Loathing at BWI
- Dec. 25: Memo From the National Affairs Desk: How’s the Weather Today in Vanuatu?
Comments
5 Responses to “Memo From the National Affairs Desk: Seventeen Days on the Campaign Trail”
January 11th, 2012 @ 5:02 pm
That’s multiple award winning blogger, Mr. Other McCain!
Come bask in the warmth of fiery award winning glory.
http://zillablog.marezilla.com/2012/01/welcome-to-first-annual-zilla-awards.html
You won more than anybody else.
January 11th, 2012 @ 9:36 pm
I would recognize you as a media celebrity on the plane. If I allowed myself to be crammed in one of those flying tuna cans after I allowed myself to be gate raped by the TSA thugs.
January 11th, 2012 @ 10:37 pm
Great picture of O’Rourke & Brietbart.
What (or who) is Andrew pointing out?
January 12th, 2012 @ 7:17 am
[…] you want me to be worried about Rick Santorum missing 4th by 50 […]
January 12th, 2012 @ 9:05 am
Jon Hunstman’s ego just entered the bar.