I drove down to the charming and delightful state of South Carolina to cover the Republican primary which has historically picked the nominee in every election since it started in 1980. As we know by now, that did not happen this year. Nothing has been very predictable this year. This year is insane. Gingrich was the state’s golden boy, which made me very happy because Callista, his wife, is a bit of an obsession of mine. I am mesmerized by her eyes and facial structure, and most of all her hair. If I could have spent the entire time taking pictures of Callista and eating shrimp and grits, I would have been a very happy camper. As it was, I ate a lot of shrimp and grits. I lead off this first post from the SC primary with a wide angle introduction to my favorite candidate spouse.
There was a Gingrich event on a decommissioned aircraft carrier. This was easily the coolest campaign stop of the entire trip. I played sea captain and tweaked my rotator cuff, only to have it fixed by a campaign volunteer who happened to be a chiropractor. The original backdrop for the Gingrich speech was supposed to be on the deck of the carrier with airplanes and amazingness, but thanks to the damn tv dudes who can’t handle a little bit of rain, we were moved below deck. The pictures were not as good.
This beauty queen supports Newt.
So does this lady and this gentleman in what appears to be a Grateful Dead sweater.
Swoon.
Fist Pump!
Reporters. Note: I played around with a lens baby during this trip. I won it in a raffle and it’s been sitting on a shelf for about a year. I decided to take it along to force myself to see and move differently. It was more of a personal exercise than a publishable concept, but I did feel that it helped get me out of a bit of a rut. Sometimes it’s good to play with toys at work.
Mic check?
This is a gay rights protester at a Santorum event. I got glitterbombed. It was amazing.
This Santorum supporter was carrying around a picture of the Virgin Mary and was keeping Rick in her prayers. I went up to her to ask if I could take a picture of her picture and she was very sweet and willing, but her friends were very suspicious. They thought I wanted to mock her because, you know, that’s what the media does? It made me very sad, and so I spent extra time discussing religion, photography, journalism, and dignity with them and eventually I think I won them over. I hope.
Ron Paul did a couple of whistle stops at airports around the state. Not as many people showed up to his events as they did in Iowa. So it goes.
This is the Freedom Corvette. It’s pretty intense.
Thad
melissagolden