Oh,

there's David Bates right in the front row.

San Antonio's own David Bates.

and you know like a lot of things in politics first of all being the driver is the best job in politics because you learn all the scoop and you get to know the candidate and you know who's up and who's down and why and you know it's crazy but that evolved over time into being the guy who put together Mr. Bush's travel visits in Connecticut which back in 1980 was an important state in the primary it came down to him versus reagan and we had to win our primary or mr bush was going to have to drop out of the race so he came to the state for a week of solid campaigning like he was running for a statewide office and i was assigned to drive the winnebago Okay, well, first of all, the Secret Service had just joined him because he'd been doing well.

And they took one look at that and said, no, we're not touching that.

We don't even want you to go near it.

And the big shots all said, no, that's how we got to do it to be with the people in Connecticut.

Could you share that one with the audience? Take it away.

Mm-hmm.

Oh, yes.

The, the Brit- the British n- leave nothing to chance, and they're, they often like to remind their American counterparts that we've been doing this a few hundred years more than you have, you know? So there's a little bit of one-upsmanship that goes on.

But this story is a classic, you know.

The, the president always speaks behind what's called the blue goose, you know, the presidential podium.

And the White House carpenter shop makes up a new one for each president that fits them, you know, uh, uh, size-wise and, and, and all that.

And so the 6 foot, you know, 2 inch President Bush and the 5 foot 3 inch queen are, are gonna speak.

What was the advance role during that whole day?

You were in college and Bush 41 was running for vice president.

That's right.

And Connecticut was one of his five home states and a must win in the primaries.

And we decided to bring him in and run him like he was running for governor.

So we rented this Winnebago.

And the Secret Service had joined him literally three days before he arrived in Connecticut.

And they were just getting to know him.

What is the blue goose and how do the risers work?