Editor in Chief

I know it's been a while, but after such an exciting weekend it's time for another look at one of the stories behind the stories.

Unless you live beneath a rock on Vairo Boulevard, you know that last weekend Barack Obama, the leading democratic candidate for the presidency, played a pick-up game in BJC, fed some baby cows and spoke to 22,000 on the Old Main lawn.

The descent of this political rock star's entourage on State College made a spring Sunday morning look like a fall football Saturday -- one does not usually wait 20 minutes for coffee before noon on Sunday, of this I am sure.

Many students waited in line for hours to glimpse the man who could be our next president, but the Collegian's in-depth projects reporter Katharine Lackey had a six-minute interview with Obama on his tour bus before he appeared at Old Main.

What was it like talking to a political candidate who has been making history and headlines? Read on for Kat's experience.

Me: How in the world did The Daily Collegian get six minutes with one of the most popular men on the planet right now? And more importantly, did he time you?

Kat: Basically, I bugged his Pa. press people a lot. When we knew he was coming for sure, I called [his Pennsylvania spokesperson] two times and e-mailed him a couple times.

Obama didn't time me, but his Pa. spokesperson was sitting next to me with his watch out. Obama ran a little after the allotted five minutes, and at the end, the press guy said, 'OK that's it.'

Me: What was he like in person?

Kat: He was very nice and surprisingly soft-spoken. I was expecting him to have
this... loud presence. But he was very relaxed, very soft-spoken, very calm.

Me: How did his tour bus compare to a CATA bus?

Kat: It's looks like one of those MTV celebrity buses. There were leather seats, a huge flat-screen TV in the corner. Yeah, not exactly like CATA.

Me: How did you come up with questions? Was there anything you particularly wanted to ask?

Kat: There was so much! I wanted to talk to him forever, for at least an hour. I wanted to know how much sleep he got each night. He doesn't seem too tired, but I know he doesn't get that much sleep. I just really wanted to hear from him why he wanted to run. I wanted to know what he thinks about his Secret Service people. When I was on the bus, there were at least somewhere between four and six Secret Service men. They were always following him around and I got tapped on the shoulder once because I blocked a Secret Service man's view of Obama. I don't know [if] a person could get used to that.

But I only had five minutes, I had no time. So I just thought about what our readers would want to hear from him and how his plans would have an affect on college students.

Me: Besides his soft-spokenness, did anything surprise you about him?

Kat: He's an ordinary person. I suspected his presence would be overpowering. But
he was standing around talking to anyone.

Me: What was your favorite part of seeing the presidential hopeful feed a cow?

Kat: It was just cute. In the end, he said, "she chowed that sucker down." It was also funny, because the press people were getting eaten alive by the cows. The cows were trying to eat them and munch on them; even Obama was pointing at them and laughing a little bit.

Me: It was funny that the secret service detail had to wear those blue booties.
Why was that and did they like them?

Kat: It was a bio-security measure. They don't want you bringing diseases into the
barn. They don't know where you've been. Obama got brand new Timberland shoes so he wouldn't have to wear the booties. I was a little afraid to talk to the secret service men. They seemed much happier once they had taken them off.

Me: Anything you want to add about the experience?

Kat: As a journalism student, it was really, really cool sitting with all these people
from the Associated Press, CBS, CNN and ABC, and they've been on the bus for about a month. They were so happy to be there, so that was really cool as well.