Rubbing Elbows at the Debate

Okay, well, we didn't really get close enough to rub elbows and we weren't actually at the debate (just the pre-debate events on campus), but it was kinda cool seeing national politicians, newscasters, and performers in our (relatively) small and out-of-the way town on Friday.

We watched a broadcast of Hardball with Chris Matthews.

After his interview, former Mississippi Senator Trent Lott (Ole Miss grad and former cheerleader; the university is the home of the Lott Leadership Institute) boarded a golf cart next to where the kids and I were standing. I forgot to change my camera to video mode, but did snap the above picture during this minor exchange:

Me: [to the kids] Ready? 1, 2, 3...

Kids: Hi, Mr. Lott!

Mr. Lott: Hey there, guys!

We thought it was pretty cool!

Josh Kelley (Ole Miss grad who attended on a golf scholarship... he's got an interesting story you can read here) was one of the performers at the all-day-long Rock the Debate concert.


Before the debate started, the kids and I decided to head home (we'd been at Rock the Debate for about 4 hours, and the kids were getting tired, and I could just as well listen to the debate at home). While waiting for the shuttle back to our car (which took 45 minutes... ugh), Howard Dean arrived for his MSNBC interview. I could not for the life of me remember his name until it was too late to say hi and ask him to stop for a picture, and he was busy juggling two different cell phone conversations, so he probably wouldn't have appreciated a crazy stranger saying hi to him at that moment anyway.

I'll post some other shots from events surrounding the debate in a few days.