Posted on 07/04/2004 4:41:00 AM PDT by arbee4bush
CANTON — Vice President Dick Cheney’s granddaughter wanted to learn more about Charles Mann at the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday.
The 10-year-old settled for Washington Redskins Coach Joe Gibbs instead.
Cheney, his wife, Lynne, and his oldest grandchild, Kate Perry, made an impromptu stop at the Hall of Fame for about 45 minutes Saturday afternoon. They arrived in red, white and blue buses, sporting “Bush, Cheney ‘04” and “Yes, America Can” logos, just after 2 p.m. from Parma, where Cheney kicked off a holiday weekend campaign bus tour.
Cheney campaigned for swing votes in Parma, where he said the state again would play a pivotal role in the November presidential election.
“This state will be very important this fall,” Cheney told more than 1,000 people at St. Josaphat Ukrainian Catholic Church in Parma, the biggest suburb of Democratic Cleveland, before stopping in Canton. His campaign trail continued to Wheeling, W.Va., and Pittsburgh.
Although several hundred anti-Bush protesters peacefully demonstrated at Cheney’s appearance in Parma, Cheney was greeted with nothing but smiling faces at the Hall of Fame.
Cam South and his son, Justin, of New Philadelphia said they picked a good day to stop at the museum. They received Cheney’s autograph while Cheney, his wife and granddaughter took a guided tour through the Hall of Fame.
“It’s quite a surprise,” said Cam South, who often visits the Canton’s famous landmark when friends are in town. This time, he stopped with his friend Todd DeVaney of Kansas City.
Hall of Fame employees also were surprised by Cheney’s visit. Malone College student Mike Leggett of Carrollton also saw Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry during his stop at the museum June 25 after the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee addressed a crowd of thousands at Perry High School.
Employee Grace Samolczyk, on summer break from Notre Dame, had to make change for the Cheneys as they paid their admission into the museum. And longtime gift-shop worker Mary Martin of Uniontown helped the Cheneys pick out Hall of Fame T-shirts and pajamas for their grandchildren.
Pamela Dawson also was shocked to see Cheney in Canton. The Texas woman is visiting family during the holiday weekend.
Although Dawson ran out of film before she got to snap the vice president’s photo, she did say it was nice to see him in person, not just on TV.
Shelly Moore of North Canton kneeled with her 3-year-old son, Cody, as Cheney and his family viewed the statue of football legend Jim Thorpe.
Moore used to work at the Hall of Fame, and said she wasn’t too surprised by Cheney’s choice.
“The (Hall of Fame) is Canton, Ohio,” she said.
A Cheney spokeswoman, Jennifer Millerwise, said it was Cheney’s idea to stop in Canton and was not prompted by Kerry’s visit little more than a week ago.
“He loves football,” she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at cantonrep.com ...
From what I am hearing from people involved with Kerry's visit last week, the Kerry people left lots of disgruntled and pi**ed off locals in the wake of his visit. The school they held the rally had their parking lot destroyed from the Kerry buses, they leftcrap and garbage everywhere (they promised to clean up after the rally) AND the his Secret Service detail was highly ticked because they told Kerry's people to NOT have large banners all over the gym that would obstruct their view. Well they did have banners everywhere and I guess the SS cussed and bi*ched like mad. Haha
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