Day 8: Round 2

Well after going through the madness twice, I can definitely say that I'm not looking forward to work today. Don't get me wrong, my gratitude for doing this is still extremely high, but I had to shove through spaces that no person should ever try to get through. I mean, I crawled through the legs of a Governor I think. I know I definitely touched Tim Kaine's but, unintentionally, but I still did it. I'm just glad I'm not claustrophobic.

It would have been an interesting day if all I did was arrive at work, and then leave. Why? Because I walk in the door and who is standing there before me.... Charles Barkley!! He's flippin' huge man. Unfortunately I didn't get to meet him at that time because I had to head off to work, but after being on the floor a bit, he appeared again. He actually sat down wit Wolf Blitzer and talked about the convention with us. He also wanted to play on the Magic Wall with John King so he and King goofed around while a huge crowd gathered. He spoke with King off to the side about his desire to run for Governor of Alabama, but I don't know if he was serious or not. I got to meet him briefly in passing right after he went off-air. His hand engulfed mine. It was enormous, probably more like a walrus flipper. After Charles left, everyone was back to work and we started running around on the floor. The day was crazy as usual, but nothing truly spectacular occurred until the Virginia Governor took the podium to give his speech. The place starting going nuts as we drew closer and closer to Hillary's speech. I was front and center for the speeches preceding Clinton's address, but right before Hillary's video was shown, we had to move to the podium to shoot something. I was grateful that I made it out of the madness, but right before she unveiled herself to the world, our director shouted at us to get down to the podium and to get a shot. I thought "do you see how many people are down there! There's no way!" My cameraman thought the same thing, but I guess you gotta do what you gotta do.

We were down there amongst the most fanatical of Clinton supporters, and we got some good shots, but not without some of the dirtiest and evil looks I have ever received. Cutting in front of people and standing in the way is part of the job, but not so fun when you have Hillary's passionate "champions" rallying together to rip your head off. I'm not saying I was scared for my life, but I was scared for my life.

After that, we called it a day and headed back to the CNN grill, where all CNN staff get to eat there for free! That's free food, and an open bar. Don't worry everyone I only had a beer, but it was terrific getting to stuff my face. It was just like Campbell's.... MMM MMM Good. I gotta get ready for work, so I can't write up the winners and loser of Tuesday. Hopefully I can do it for today's events. Tune in to CNN, because let's face it, Anderson Cooper is just too good looking to pass up. haha