This one just arrived.

I live across the Savannah river in Georgia. I took my 3-year old daughter on the 30 minute drive across the border to Aiken, SC for Fred Thompson’s afternoon event.
Yes, there is real excitement. We arrived at noon outside Russ’s BBQ on The Alley in Aiken, SC. There were close to 200 people… standing outside the restaurant. Approximately 100 managed to squeeze indoors. The crowd outside was very jovial awaiting Fred’s arrival. The local and state police blocked off both ends of the street with lights flashing. About fifteen minutes later, the “Clear Conservative Choice” bus arrived… but down the end of back alley. Quite “by accident”, the crowd shifted. We could tell the good Senator was making a back door entrance. It reminded me like something out of a rock concert, adoring fans trying to catch a glimpse. Within minutes we swarmed this side of the delivery box truck to see Fred make his entrance. He was gracious, taking a few pictures and then stepping out from the front of the truck to wave hello to all before entering Russ’s BBQ.
All listenened intently to Fred as he gave today’s stump speech (there was a loud speaker system set up outside) and took turns peering through the restaurant windows to see him in action and snap photos. There was much applause during his speech and during the Q&A.
Fred wrapped up, made a comment about getting some of the BBQ to go and made his way outside to the throngs awaiting him. Here’s a link to a local CBS station with the two-minute “One-on-one with Fred Thompson” news piece that was billed as their “top story”: http://www.wrdw.com/ (my daughter is the little blonde holding the Fred08 sign about a minute into it)….Today, with signs in hand and Fred08 stickers on just about every shirt you saw, this was an event worthy of the next president.