WH Pool Report: Starting to Flip Out a Little

In this White House pool report, your pooler hears things:

The usual assortment of top Bush aides was already aboard AF1. With a couple of dozen airmen and civilians looking on, POTUS, FLOTUS and guests did the arrival dance: Salute, wave, walk, cha, cha, cha. Pause, wave, climb steps, cha, cha, cha. Big Finish here! Turn, pause, wave, cha, cha, cha. (Caution: Music may have been playing only in pooler's head.)

Full report after the jump.

Pool Report #1

Oct. 25, 2004

Crawford to Greeley, Colo.

Was there news? Are you new here? No. No news.

Marine 1 arrived at 8: 20 a.m. local time. POTUS and FLOTUS were accompanied on the helicopter by Rudy Giuliani and his wife. As the foursome approached the pool this fateful morning, your pooler grabbed the arm of AP and shouted, "Thank God Scott's going to be our briefer on this!!"

The usual assortment of top Bush aides was already aboard AF1. With a couple of dozen airmen and civilians looking on, POTUS, FLOTUS and guests did the arrival dance: Salute, wave, walk, cha, cha, cha. Pause, wave, climb steps, cha, cha, cha. Big Finish here! Turn, pause, wave, cha, cha, cha. (Caution: Music may have been playing only in pooler's head.)

Rudy Giuliani and his wife (The former Judith Nathan informs the pool that she now goes by Mrs. Giuliani) visited the pool briefly. He's thrilled to be here with POTUS. He described the introduction he was going to give as the same speech he gave at the Republican convention only much shorter.

"I'm going to try to explain how important it is to carry out the war on terrorism effectively," he said.

Asked about his confidence in Bush winning, he said, "No one can be complacent. It will be a close election. He has the lead in key places. He has the support he needs, but nobody can count on that."

Scotty gaggled. The NYTimes story on the weapons cache dominated. He laid out a tic-toc that suggests the U.S. was not in charge of the weapons depot when the stuff disappeared or it was busy with other priorities. Transcript is on its way. Scotty said the speech would be new and contain new language. (Your pool reports, you decide.)

Flight and helo trip uneventful (thus explaining how your pooler was still alive and able to file this report.) The helos, out of habit, landed in a ballpark a stone's throw from the event site. There was more waving. Cha, cha, cha.

Bob Kemper

Atlanta Journal Constitution