The Straight Talk Motorcade

Monday, October 06, 2008: During the second half of Saturday’s Navy – Air Force football game at the Fox and Hound sports Bar, Barry Howard had requested that I be one of the eight drivers for the McCain Campaign coming to Albuquerque on Monday afternoon. I can’t say “No!” to Barry, one of John McCain’s class of 1958 classmates, and a former Air Force Fighter Pilot. [Two days earlier, I had stood with Barry at the New Mexico Veterans Memorial as former Marines and Jon Voight along with City Councilman Don Harris performed the ground-breaking of the War on Terror Memorial.] When I told Bonnie about this, she implied that with my driving ability, she wished I were driving the Obama staff. A lot of confidence in my driving abilities.

Nevertheless on Monday morning, I dragged myself out of bed and headed off to Cutter Aviation. There I was met by Barry and his three other recruits (Jim Monsees, Hoppy Hopkins '59, Dick Porter), plus Chris Livingston from ABQ McCain Hqs and his recruit Howard DeLaCruz-Bancroft. Barry ensured that each driver had a McCain-Palin button. At 9:30 am, we were told to drive our cars over to the Van rental company and after more than an hour of obviously biased paperwork, we each found ourselves driving off in a white, ten passenger Chevrolet van.

We arrived back at Cutter Aviation and were soon let out to drive across the tarmac and back in, awaiting the arrival of the Straight Talk Express. But first, each hood was opened and bomb-sniffing dog was led by each van, followed by members of the APD bomb squad who used flashlights to look underneath and throughout the vans. Then we were given a name for each van: PRESS 1 or STAFF 3. I was designated to be STAFF 2, a very important van, for if anything were to happen to STAFF 1, guess who would have to step up. Barry became PRESS 1, which I guess is important if you like Katie Couric.

Tony of New Mexico's Secret Service office gave me an A-7 pin to wear. Apparently S-pins can escort people, and R-pins can be trusted as well. A-pins are, well, at least part of the entourage. Barry didn't get a pin at all, and we heard about that for most of the day.

At 12:44 pm, the Straight Talk Express [see photo] arrived at Cutter Aviation, and immediately many, many folks started pouring out of the back door and down the gangway. Two young ladies piled into my van, with a quick “Hello!” to me. “Welcome to Albuquerque!” I responded. Soon Three young men joined them, including one in the front passenger seat. I asked them if they had previously been assigned or just filled up whatever van. They said they had found that STAFF 2 was usually not full, so that was their choice.

After Sen. McCain made a short statement, we vans pulled up close to the aircraft, the rest of the people filed in, and away we went. I had never participated in a motorcade before, and found it quite exhilarating to fly through stop signs, red and green lights without regard, as the Albuquerque Police Department managed to set up blocks at each intersection. Then the police would have to leapfrog up to the next intersection, so they would go roaring by us vans. Thus we were told to always keep to the right, as the cycles would pass on the left, and during a not-so-long ago Bush motorcade, one of the police officers was killed.

Off we went to University of New Mexico, taking Rio Bravo entry to Interstate 25, which was also blocked – amazing feeling to have the Interstate to yourself and a few close vans. Exited at Lomas, then right on University, left on Central and into the campus, down the ramp to the loading dock behind the Student Union (SUB) bldg. The candidate and his wife got out of their Suburban and into the facility; the vans quickly unloaded and all the occupants scampered off with their cameras and laptops. That left us van drivers sitting and awaiting the order to re-position our vans for the exit. This was done with precision, as we moved into the area, and backed into position.

We awaited the opportunity to enter the bldg and here some of the talk, but it never came. What did come was a photo-op with Cindy and the Senator as a thank you to all of us – great! When I shook hands with the Senator, I used my 3 seconds to say, "Hi, I'm Mike Blackledge, Class of '63" to which he replied, "Oh, I saw Navy beat Air Force in football Saturday!" "Yes, a great game!" I agreed.

An exciting time, then we loaded back into the vans, and back to Cutter Aviation, again with the police escorts and motorcade/intersection blocking procedure. Again worked most smoothly. All loaded onto the Straight Talk Express, and we took a few photos of the plane.

We headed back to the van rental facility, turned in our vehicles and our keys, and shook hands all around – a good days’ work? So it was, and we each got into our vehicles and headed home. It was 3 pm and I first had to borrow Chris’ cell phone/Blackberry and call Bonnie and ask her to meet me at Golden Corral (Eubank and Central) for the Early Bird Buffet so I could tell her how I not only survived this adventure, but succeeded in not killing off a single McCain staffer. Every vote counts!

That night Bonnie and I watched the local and national news. They seemed to focus on Senator and Mrs. McCain. The van drivers were not featured. No, I have no explanation.