Skywalking with Romney

The weather in Des Moines hasn’t reached frightful, but it is not what you would call delightful at present if you have to be outside.  There’s been some ice, some snow.  It’s cold.  It’s a day to wear snowboots, thick jeans, your parka and a baseball cap.

That was my uniform as I stood along the Des Moines skywalk over the noonhour today, a few feet from a hub which features several establishments offering food for the folks who work in downtown Des Moines insurance companies, banks and such.  Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney arrived, to be quickly surrounded by a throng of media toting cameras, microphones, notepads and recorders (like me).  Romney made his way past a coffee establishment and a women’s clothing store, then began closing in on a deli.  I had dropped back to let a woman in a wheelchair pass through and got separated from the media pack — caught along the side of the walkway standing beside a "real person" who was poised to shake Romney’s hand.

"Hi, ladies.  How are you?" Romney said to the both of us. 

"Fine," the woman standing to my left said as she stuck her hand out to clasp the hand Romney had extended in greeting. 

"Merry Christmas to you.  Nice to meet you," Romney said.

"Nice to meet you," the woman replied.  It was at this point Romney turned to me with his hand extended.  I shook his hand as Romney tipped the bill of my baseball cap up with his index finger and said, "Hey, I know who this is."  He laughed.  I laughed.  The woman beside me laughed.  Then the entourage moved along. I chatted with several people who got to meet Romney, briefly, over their lunch hour today.  Read and hear their stories here on Radio Iowa.

Romney’s stroll through the downtown skywalk was a "photo op" — no question and answer session with reporters.  Romney did chat with Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic today, though.