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Town Hall Tardiness: Obama Late & Some Walk Out
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ShareNovember 06, 2007 11:56 PM
ABC News' Sunlen Miller reports: Barack Obama spoke in front of a Cedar Rapids crowd the campaign estimates was close to 900 on Tuesday. But some audience members threw on their jackets and walked out before the Senator ever arrived: Obama was nearly an hour late.
"I'm leaving, I'm mad," eighteen-year-old college student, Nicole Moon said, "I've wasted more than 30 minutes."
Moon was one of an exodus of about 20 other people who walked out when the announcement was made by Linn county Supervisor Linda Langtston that the Senator would be there soon…but was not there yet.
Campaign staffers were quick to stand by the exit doors, overheard cajoling people into not leaving and explained to the press that most people were leaving to use the restroom or smoke. But many audience members questioned on the way out said their rides were there or they simply didn't want to wait any more.
"If it's a campaign for change, he should have changed being late," audience member Zach Kuhl said, playing off the campaign's theme, which hung on a banner before the stage sans Obama.
The Senator, usually regularly on time, finally took the stage at 7:57 pm -- 57 minutes after the official start time of the town hall and immediately apologized saying, "We usually pride ourselves on being on time," explaining that it was a travel glitch coming from Chicago.
ABC News confirmed that the "travel glitch" was actually a travel gaffe; Obama's plane landed in the wrong airport.
O. Kay Henderson reported Wednesday on Radio Iowa's blog that it "seems the pilot flew over Cedar Rapids -- the intended destination -- and took the Obama campaign plane to Des Moines instead. So they had to fly back to Cedar Rapids."
"The story's leaking out, huh?" Obama said when he called into Radio Iowa. "Well, what can I tell you? Apparently our pilot's been logging in a lot of miles."
November 6, 2007 in Tancredo, Tom | Permalink | User Comments (4)
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From what I've read, Hillary Clinton's campaign is always on time. Maybe the Obama defectors should join the rest of his ex-supporters and support her?
Posted by: Ryan | Nov 7, 2007 12:57:40 AM
Wow, this was actually story? Nice work ABC! No candidate has ever been late for a town hall meeting - ever! I'm so upset students had to waste 30 minutes to an hour of their time to wait for the next president of the United States. God knows, that running for President is less demanding than a college student's schedule. Maybe Nicole was missing out on valuable Facebook time while she waited for Obama.
Posted by: BrianR | Nov 7, 2007 2:50:16 PM
Ryan, what are you smoking? Clinton kept people in Atlanta -- and Representative John Lewis, who was endorsing her -- standing around in a parking lot for OVER AN HOUR, rolling in at 10 after 1 for an event that started at noon.
Posted by: shelbinator | Nov 7, 2007 10:40:26 PM
So his plane landed at the wrong airport. It's not his fault. He didn't intentionally do this. This isn't newsworthy. Oh and BrianR...I think Ryan was being sarcastic. It wasn't difficult to see.
Posted by: Dave | Nov 16, 2007 12:18:38 AM
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