The VP

Last week I had the opportunity to help at a fundraiser for Congressman Walberg. A good friend of mine works for Walberg and so I gladly jumped at the chance to help him. An added bonus was finding out Dick Cheney was the special guest for the event. While I realize Cheney's popularity is not soaring, I still admire and appreciate him and was anxious to see him in person.

The morning of the event, I received a call from a number I didn't recognize and let it go to voicemail. The same number called back 10 seconds later and I decided to pick it up and see who it was. I hear a voice ask me if this is Jeff Cobb and I tell him it is, and then he tells me he is from Secret Service and I was to be available to answer their call throughout the rest of the day. It was a little unsettling to have them call but kind of cool to say "when secret service called me this morning". I used that line a lot throughout the day and into the weekend.

The event went very well. They drew a huge crowd and undoubtedly raised a lot of money. They held the fundraiser at a private home in Marshall and it was the biggest house I have ever been to. I don't know if this is true or not but somebody told me the house was 15,000 square feet and it felt every bit that big. In fact, they had a VIP reception in the kitchen which consisted of close to a hundred guests and it didn't even seem crowded.

I had two main jobs during the day, first I was on sign duty which was actually quite fun despite the frozen ground. My friend Ryan and I and a few others put up probably 100 signs or more on the property and along the route where the guests would be arriving. You could see his orange signs a mile away. Very eye catching. Then my next duty was to greet people as they came through security and direct them to the proper locations in the house. This was a great job as I was able to meet and visit with all the guests. Plus it was nice to be inside from the cold.

After all the guests arrived, I should have stayed upstairs as the other volunteers who stayed up there had their picture taken with Cheney. But I have a crush on one of the other volunteers so I went downstairs to chase her down. Despite missing out on the picture, it all ended well because I got to visit with her and also eat while we waited for the VP to arrive. For Cheney's speech, I was able to sneak up to the front of the line just next to the Congressman's family. His speech was filled with mostly boilerplate on the economy and the war on terror but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I will say though, Cheney looks even more serious in person than he does on camera. After Cheney spoke, Congressman Walberg addressed the crowd and he was very good. As a former preacher, he has an impressive way of communicating to his audience.

All in all it was a very fun day and I am glad I was able to see the Vice President and help out Congressman Walberg.