On the Trail, One Aide Looms Over Obama (NYT tomorrow, about Reggie Love)

[Muttocracy]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/us/politics/27reggie.html

...

Mr. Love, 26, is Mr. Obama’s body man, the personal aide who shadows the senator and anticipates everything he needs — and everything he does not need. He is not a bodyguard (security is provided by the Secret Service), but rather the ultimate assistant, rarely more than a body length away from the candidate.

Young, eager campaign aides are stock characters in movies and on television, but few have quite the élan of Mr. Love, who, at 6-foot-5, is about three inches taller than the tall candidate, fitter than the fit candidate (he can bench press more than 350 pounds) and cooler than the cool candidate.

“There’s no doubt that Reggie is cooler than I am,” Mr. Obama said, laughing, in a phone interview. “I am living vicariously through Reggie.”

...

[FrenchieCat]

1. Pic......

What a body man does depends on the politician. Senator John Kerry’s aide for his presidential race in 2004 was dubbed “part butler, part buddy.” Bill Clinton’s aide when he was president said their relationship sometimes felt more like that of an old married couple. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has a body woman, the efficient and glamorous Huma Abedin. On NBC’s “The West Wing,” President Josiah Bartlet treated his body man, Charlie Young, like a son.

Mr. Obama said he regarded “my guy, Reggie,” as the kid brother he never had. “But maybe I’m saying that just because he technically could be my son,” the Illinois senator said. “I don’t want to admit my age.”

[Cha]

4. What a job!

Thanks for the pic, Frenchie~

[slinkerwink]

6. Love's with Obama :-)

[MH1]

17. Funny, that's Kerry's body guy at the back (the other tall guy)

and they mention him in the text but not the photo caption.

Marvin Nicholson is on the campaign in some capacity, I guess he moved up from "chief of stuff".

[Cha]

2. Good to have an assistant who is 6'5",

bench presses 350, and is named Reggie Love:B-) Thank you :loveya:

[Muttocracy]

5. sounds like something made up for a movie or TV show, doesn't it? :-)

[Cha]

12. Absolutely! This whole scene is

a script Hollywood would love to have:D

David Geffen has dibbs.

[Muttocracy]

16. News and Notes on NPR had a heated debate on their blog about who would play them in a movie

I think Will Smith won for Obama, can't remember who won for Michelle.

[Cha]

19. Will Smith will do a good job and he came

out for Obama EARLY. Have to get someone tall and beautiful for Michelle.

[Yael]

3. Is this the one who moved Billo out of Obama's path in NH?

[Muttocracy]

7. delete - answered below. nt

[Cha]

8. Wasn't there a tall White guy who use

to be Kerry's bodyguard who did that?

[Muttocracy]

9. yep, Marvin Nicholson 6'8"

edit for better link with photo:
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/oreilly-involved-in-shoving-match-at-obama-event/

I googled bill oreilly obama new hampshire line shove :)

[Cha]

18. Yeah, wonder what happen to Marvin Nicholson?

Thanks, Joe'sOneofUs.:)

[MH1]

11. The tall blond guy at the back - "Mahvelous" Marvin

He was Kerry's body man, aka "chief of stuff" in 2004.

He's a really nice guy. Which made the episode with Billo even more funny.

edit to clarify: in the pic on post #1.

[Yael]

15. Thanks!

He is tall.

[cliffordu]

14. I was just thinking that - I believe it might have been - I recall

the guy who stopped Bill0 looked a lot like him...

Too bad he couldn't have given billy a real good hug.....

Like the ones John Matuzak used to give quarterbacks all over the NFL....

[FrenchieCat]

10. more....brush it off......

After the Democratic presidential debate in Philadelphia in April, Mr. Obama borrowed a move from the rapper Jay-Z and mimed brushing off his shoulders, but it was Mr. Love who had uploaded his music to the senator’s iPod in the first place — a silver Nano that he bought the senator for his 46th birthday.

“So I’ve gotten pretty fond of Jay-Z,” Mr. Obama said. “He’s broadened my horizons in the hip-hop world.”

In turn, Mr. Obama said he had gotten Mr. Love into “everything from John Coltrane to Frank Sinatra.”

[Cha]

20. Oh, that was borrowed from JayZ..

That's what friends are for!B-)

[FrenchieCat]

13. No wonder Barack is even tempered!

From Mr. Obama: “One cardinal rule of the road is, we don’t watch CNN, the news or MSNBC. We don’t watch any talking heads or any politics. We watch ‘SportsCenter’ and argue about that

[Cha]

21. Yeah, they should start a

trend.

[TahitiNut]

22. Love: "There is nothing worse than losing to Barack Obama. You never hear the end of it."

Hear that, Hillary? :rofl:

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2007/11/obamas_body_man_keeps_him_fit.html

[madrchsod]

23. should have went with " big black "

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wccub4Mga8c

mtv skater vote locked up with big black on board...plus cool clothes