Bill

Though I'm an Obama-backer, I'm not so pure as to miss an opportunity to see Bill Clinton. In fact, it's the first time I've ever seen a president in person. For the first time in forever Oregon's presidential primary counts for something. Positioned fourth-to-last on the schedule, just beating out population powerhouses Puerto Rico, Montana, and South Dakota, we are usually a forgotten outpost. Mathematically Obama looks to have an insurmountable lead, but Hillary is fighting on for the nomination and for us Oregonians that means attention. On Monday Bill Clinton came to Salem, Oregon, so Serena and I hopped over there for the morning to see him speak. I'm firmly in Obama's corner, but Bill is good. Really good. By the end I thought, "Wellll, okay, I could see voting for her." That good. I mean, I know the strong reasons for voting for Obama, but he still made me think twice. That was the most impressive part of the entire thing. A couple other thoughts:

• They didn't have any kind of metal detectors, bag searchers, or basic check-in. That astounded me. I kept waiting and waiting for the check, but it never came. He's a former president! It blew my mind that they were just letting people in.
• There was a guy in the corner who kept yelling things about how he thought Hillary was terrible. Bill ignored him until about ten minutes left in the speech and said something to the effect, "I'm sure you've got some good ideas, but you keep interrupting me while I'm speaking. Now, why don't you let me finish and then you can have the stage and all these people who came to see me can stick around if they want to listen to you." This received a big applause and the guy was jeered into silence. Literally. He didn't peep after that.
• It seemed like there were a few people like me who weren't voting for Hillary, but were stoked about the idea to see a former president speak.
• The room was tiny, probably only able to hold 1,000 people. I'm guessing they didn't want to risk a half-filled room, but there were hundreds of people waiting in line that weren't let in. Seemed a little strange, but, again, maybe part of the strategy.

A couple photos of the guy in action. I can't say it enough, he's good:
I'm especially fond of the first one above. A) He looks like he's falling into the crowd and is bit worried and B) His secret service security agent (top right) looks so happy.