Herded at my first rodeo
From the Editor's Desk
Arthur McLean
I was the envy of a few folks Monday. I got to ride along - for a little while - on the Straight Talk Express, Sen. John McCain's campaign bus as it wove its way from Selma to Thomasville.

I'll tell you now that it's not as romantic as it sounds.

The day started with me, a night owl, getting up before dawn to make the trip up to Selma. After scouting around the location where McCain made his first speech in sight of the Edmund Pettis Bridge. I took pictures, made notes and watched the throngs of other media folks working the scene and jockeying for position.

From there, I spent the rest of the day being, for lack of a better word, herded. I was told not to stand there but here, to be there if I was going to take pictures and not to stand here if I wasn't going to take pictures. I was shooed away and rushed along. It wasn't just me, but everyone else too.

Of course, my contrarian nature of wanting to zig when I see a lot of people zagging got me into the wrong position for pictures sometimes, and most often resulted in being told to move again by one of the two campaign workers who's main functions seemed to involve barking short sentences with the word move or can't embedded in them.

Hey, this really was my first rodeo. That also meant I found myself at the back of the pack on more than one occasion.

It was nearly standing room only on the bus ride from Selma to Gee's Bend, and I was one of the ones who did most of the standing. While the mayor, Gov. Bob Riley and other officials chatted with the Senator, we were allowed to take pictures and some of us local media folks to go back and ask him a few questions.

After a brief session, we were herded out so the men of power could continue their discussions on the Black Belt.

I got moved to another vehicle at Gee's Bend where I was thankful to have a seat.

The herding continued throughout the day. Of course, this was nothing new to most of the press corps following the senator and they all mostly seemed to take it in stride, while still making sure they got what they needed, even if that meant turning a deaf ear to the campaign workers from time to time.

To be fair, these kids were in a tough position and I don't envy their jobs. They're probably working on a volunteer basis, putting long hours in unfamiliar places and trying to keep some semblance of order in the midst of what could quickly turn into chaos. And they were trying to make sure everyone got at least something if they couldn't get them everything they wanted.

But as for me, I think I'll leave the road life of constantly covering of the big time campaigns to the others.

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