So, after snapping some photos, we headed off toward a local news channel’s building. On the way there, we saw a handful of Eyewitness News vans covering a nurses’ rally. Seizing the opportunity for a chance to get on the news by stealing another group’s thunder, we did a drive-by. A few cameras pointed in our direction, and the reporters shouted, “Who are you?” to us as we cruised past. We sent young Mark Cope and our very own Todd Borgie out to talk up the expedition, and just as the reporters were getting interested, Gov. Schwarzenegger appeared and took the media attention we had rightfully stolen. The reporters ran away from us to capture the action at the governator’s press conference. Schucks! We were so close!

We did laps around the building where the governor was speaking, and we wond cheers and applause from another group of kids, but we decided to pack it in before the governor reappeared. We dropped in on two TV stations and a newspaper, with little luck, and then we did a final drive-by at the press conference. The governor was already gone, but we bumped into his political advisor, and he invited us up to his office.

That visit spawned a beautiful friendship with George Gorton and his son, Steve Moore, who were both advisors to Boris Yeltsin’s campaign and can claim responsibility for his successful election. They’re a couple of highly successful political gurus, and we got to hang out with them for the rest of the evening. They brought us over to the Hyatt, where Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver live, and we loitered there for a while. When he failed to appear, we went over to the Capitol building to roam around outside of his office. No luck there, either. It seems our man had left for L.A. So we hung with our new friends and enjoyed the rest of our evening. We didn’t meet the governor, but we were successful, nonetheless.

Tomorrow, we either head south, or we’ll hang out a bit longer in Sacramento.
(N.O.)