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AN EVENING WITH THE PRESIDENT

What an evening; what a president!!

CHRONOLOGY:
My 11-year-old daughter, Danielle, and I arrived at the Lindner home (Carl Lindner owns the Cincy Reds) at approximately 3:30 PM for the 6:30 PM event . . . we had been advised to get there EARLY so that we could position
ourselves on the 'rope line' before the other 1,198 people arrived!

I knew the evening was going to be special after speaking with an incredibly sweet Secret Service Officer at the front gate . . . his wit and thoughtfulness enabled Danni and I to begin tour adventure with a smile!

After parking our car (and having another uplifting conversation with a Secret Service officer), Danni and I talked with the Boy Scout honor guards (you'd never see Boy Scouts at a DNC event!), bantered with the security
guards (and their dogs. . . Danni LOVES dogs), and then walked up the faux bridge into the tent.

Once inside, we immediately selected our spot on the rope line and then began visually exploring our environment. The tent was beautifully decorated with flags/bunting, Bush-Cheney reflected lighting, fruit and flower topiaries, and artfully arranged food trays. I immediately helped
myself to the shrimp while Danni desparately searched for pizza -- no luck!!

We then spent the next 2½ hours meeting fellow Republicans! What an incredible group of people -- doctors, lawyers, judges, teachers, and lots and lots of entrepreneurs/business people. The family next to us on the ropeline (mom, dad, two sons and their wives) owns several successful businesses in the Cincy and Denver area . . . they had started with nothing and are now millionaires . . . they were sooooooooooooo upbeat and
passionate about their family, their business, their country and their President (as was EVERYONE else that I met; it was absolutely inspirational)!!

The gentleman next to me had recently graduated from Boston College and Harvard Business School. He now works for a playing cards company in Cincy; in fact, he had designed the Iraqi "Most Wanted" cards for our military and planned to explain this to the President!! Behind me stood
several business leaders and radio personality, Billy Cunningham (for those of you familiar with 700WLW, it's THAT Billy Cunningham -- he was actually VERY charming and quite supportive of the President!).

Finally, the moment came: "Ladies and gentleman, the President of the United States, George W Bush!"

Pandemonium: The applause was deafening; the flashbulbs were blinding; and the President was BEAMING!

. . . Tomorrow night, I'll share the rest of the story and provide some pixes too [and no, I didn't get a pix of the 'peck on the cheek' although I did get a 'quasi' pix of him holding my hand -- sigh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR FAWNN
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!

I hope you made the time to CELEBRATE!!

Your day sound fabulous - lucky you and Danielle.

BUT, I can't believe you are going to make us wait ANOTHER night for the rest of the story !!!!

With that build-up, I can't believe you left us hanging, waiting to see what happened! I know it was fabulous and will be anxiously awaiting the rest of the story.

I cannot WAIT to hear the rest of the story, Deb!

I remember well that excited pandemonium in the crowd when the President appeared!

What an experience for Danni! WOW!

And just where did you learn the fine art of torture, m'lady? ... ;-)

The first part of your report was so detailed we could just imagine all of it. You can believe that we are eagerly looking forward to the really important parts tomorrow night .... and especially if they are accompanied by pictures!

MORE, MORE, MORE, ENCORE! AUTHOR! AUTHOR!