Fairfax Goes Rogue

Hey everyone - I know it's been a little while since I posted here but wanted to file a report on today's event in Fairfax.

I arrived at 9:45 AM - right at the beginning of what turned out to be the biggest snowstorm that I have seen since moving to the D.C. area. It was snowing to beat the band, and I have to hand it to those people who continued to wait for hours as snow accumulated on their umbrellas.

Luckily, I was not standing in the snow with an umbrella. Instead, myself and my good friend Carly (see above) snuck in the front door of BJ's Wholesale Club and picked up our VIP passes. A nice guy named Nick ushered us into a room (tiny cube enclosed by curtains) which would later become Gov. Palin's office for the day.

While Carly tried to buy a book ("Ma'am, you can't purchase it unless you have a BJ's membership card"), she struck up a conversation with another VIP guest standing in line - and found out that his name was Randy Scheunemann (longtime McCain associate, Palin's foreign policy guru, and the guy who played Joe Biden in debate prep). That was when we figured out that half of the VIP guest list consisted of former McCain campaign staffers. And yes - they quickly figured out how to let non-BJ's- members buy books.

Scheunemann and the other campaign people we talked to were fantastic, and for the record I was told that the supposed rift between McCain and Palin is 100% hooey invented by our friends in the media. Take that, "anonymous campaign aides"!

Then the Governor arrived and pandemonium broke loose. The crew of ex-campaign aides (I called them the "VVIPs") were ushered behind the black curtains - I assume for a meet-and -greet later - while the VIPs with only one V were herded to the front of the line as the Governor took her place behind the signing table. Mine was the third book signed, and it looked like I was going to get a signed book and not much more. Luckily, I had remembered last night that I should take the precaution of putting my name and phone number inside the front cover of my book (just in case it got lost...or in case the author was signing that page...I admit it).

So, she did stop for a second and ask, "Is this you?". I responded in the affirmative and she responded "You're famous!" I didn't say it at the time, but a line came to mind about a pot and a kettle. So I got a handshake, and as I walked away she hollered, "Keep up the good work, Adam!"

I have a few more things to do before I can say that I will die a happy man - but this was definitely a big step in that direction.

So - then the real circus began as the rest of the cold, tired crowd started flowing in. Meanwhile, the very confused VIP guests were told to exit behind Gov. Palin rather than moving forward. This allowed me to quickly grab my inconveniently hidden overcoat and forget my briefcase (luckily, Carly did NOT forget my briefcase - for which I owe her a huge debt of gratitude). Somewhere during the coat/briefcase debacle I almost literally ran into Todd Palin, whose hand I also shook before catching a quick glimpse of Trig and stumbling out the back. So, my brief encounter with the Palin clan was slightly confusing but VERY enjoyable.

Not wanting to head back out into the cold before our Taxi arrived (we're citified people ride subways and don't own cars), we decided to stay and gawk at the crowd for a while - which is when we saw Gov. Palin's father, Chuck Heath, taking pains to shake the hands of all the supporters leaving the signing. At this point, I really regretted using the "VIP exit" as the nice men in security uniforms prevented us from getting back in to shake his hand. Still, he was quite something to watch as he approached every snow-weary customer, offered a hearty handshake, and bellowed, "Hi, I'm Sarah's dad!". I started wondering if anybody had thought of launching a "Draft Chuck Heath for U.S. Senate" campaign - because he definitely seemed to have the chops for campaigning and Mark Begich is up in 2014.

We also caught a glimpse of the Governor's mother, Sally Heath, but that was about the time when the nice security guards told us to get lost.

Our taxi quickly arrived, and we trudged back out into the fast-falling snow. As we drove off we noted that there the storm had failed to drive away the crowds. They may have had an inch of snow on their umbrellas (and trust me, some of them did), but by-golly, they were getting in to see Gov. Palin!

So, that was my day in Fairfax -and I can definitely say that it was worth it.

Oh...and Governor....keep up the good work! (and if you ever want to get in touch, Randy Scheunemann has my business card).