Barack Obama made a rare and surprise visit to the House chamber Thursday during a series of procedural votes, but he was treated more as a celebrity than an elected representative.
The Democratic presidential candidate and Illinois senator was mobbed by House Democrats, receiving treatment worthy of a rock star.
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Asked why he visited the House, Obama told FOX News Radio that he “just thought I’d say hello,” and refused to call it a victory lap.
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The mob scene around him was Beatles-esque.
Lingering for 40 minutes, Obama shook hands with dozens of members and made his way to the so-called “Murtha Corner” in the far right-hand section of the chamber. It’s so named because that’s where House Defense Appropriations Committee Chairman John Murtha, D-Pa., often presides.
After her weekly press conference, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., made a special trip to the chamber to talk with the candidate.
He gave her a kiss.Later, Obama walked to the landing of the stairs between the second and third floors and posed for a photograph with House pages.
Pages and House members jockeyed for position with reporters and photographers as they walked through the Capitol. Obama signed autographs for pages, and Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, even whipped out a small camera to snap a picture.
He then walked from the House chamber perimeter, through Statuary Hall and the Rotunda and to the Senate.
As he arrived on the Senate side of the building, a group of tourists from Schaumburg, Ill., hollered at him “We’re from Illinois!” Obama stopped and acknowledged them, and the tourists cheered.
At that point, the scrum nearly plowed over Del. Madeleine Bordallo, D-Guam, who was on the Senate side. They had a short conversation and Obama gave her a kiss as they walked and came around the corner near the Ohio Clock.
Obama then went downstairs and boarded one of the subways that run between the Capitol and the Senate office buildings.
All the while, a feeding frenzy of press surrounded him with cameramen backpedaling in front of him all the way across the Capitol.
Perhaps the funniest moment of the entire episode unfolded next.
When the train pulled into the Dirksen Senate Office Building subway station, a subway maintenance crew member wandered over to the car occupied by press and asked if the reporters could all disembark. He needed to take that train out of service before it continued to the next building over. No one on the press car budged since everyone was tracking Obama.
The maintenance worker then ambled over to the next car, full of Secret Service detail and Obama. He made the same request there. Obama sat there for a moment, then disembarked.
And the chase was on again as all of the press poured out of the first car.
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/05/08/obama-gets-rock-star-treatment-in-house-building/">SOURCE
Obama was a very popular figure on the Democratic side of the US House today.
He strode onto the floor during a vote when the place was packed and was immediately greeted by wave after wave of Democratic well-wishers, both Clinton supporters and Obama supporters alike, as well as undecideds.
Escorted by Rep. Steve Rothman, who served as a kind of body man, Obama first made his way along the back aisle where he shook hands and slapped backs. One member, Tim Ryan, snapped a picture with a cell phone. Pages rushed over and asked for autographs.
After running the initial gauntlet, he ended up in a place called "The Murtha Corner," where for years Rep. John Murtha has held court with cronines during votes. At first, Murtha -- a Clinton man -- appeared not to see Obama as the senator stood not two feet away greeting well-wishers. Obama was compelled to put a hand on his shoulder, at which point Murtha rose and offered a hearty smile. The two men then engaged in an extended conversation.
Dozens of Democrats maneuvered to greet him. When Obama came to undecided Rep. Jack Spratt, the senator greeted him by literally bending his knee in a kind of modified genuflect. Around that time Obama and undecided Jason Altmire had a relatively long chat.
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Upon emerging, he posed for a picture with several House pages on the grand staircase, under an enormous mural depicting the Constitutional Convention of 1789.
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"I was there giving an update to my supporters," he told a clot of reporters who mobbed him as he walked through Statuary Hall on his way back to the Senate side. "I wasn't campaigning; I was saying hello." Which is why he was bowing to Spratt, one imagines.
Asked what Republicans had to say to him on the floor, he said, "They were impressed with my jump shot."
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/05/08/996028.aspx">SOURCE
The man is a political JUGGERNAUT
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