Advertisement
President Bush made several jokes during his speech. The audience seemed to like them, even if he does use old material. In Onalaska on Tuesday, Bush got some laughs when he told Mayor Jim Bielecki to "fill the potholes." He told Mason City's mayor to "pave the potholes" during his visit there last week. A White House press corps member told a reporter that Bush uses the pothole line in almost every city he appears.
It gets hot
Tom Hammill, manager of the OmniCenter, said he was told it's quite common for people to pass out during a Bush rally, either because they are so excited to see him in person or it gets so hot in the buildings where the rallies are held.
Signs welcome Bush
Local businesses along Bush's route to Richland Center welcomed him to Coulee Region communities.
The Reads Creek Nursery in Readstown, Wis., took a different approach by stating "Have a Kerry good day" on its sign.
Awakened by a copter
Grant Smith, associate professor of English at Viterbo University, started a speech to the La Crosse Kiwanis Club on Tuesday by noting that he lives a couple blocks from the Onalaska OmniCenter. He said he woke up to the sound of a helicopter and thought, "I probably should have removed the Kerry sign from my yard.''
Anti-Bush students
A quartet of University of Wisconsin-La Crosse students also took time off from classes to attend the rally, but they were there as much to make a statement as to hear Bush.
Maureen McCollum, Katie Monson, Jenna Wendorff and Arica Faber wore matching black T-shirts with a portrait of Bush labeled "Not my president." When campaign volunteers noticed, the quartet said, they were first "put on display" and taunted, then ushered into a corner, where campaign workers stood in front of them.
Business slows, temporarily
Business was "pretty quiet" at the Menard's store at 1301 Sand Lake Road in Onalaska during President Bush's Tuesday morning speech at the OmniCenter, said Randy Bergman, the store's general manager. "But it was just a very temporary slowdown."
Cow pies on the farm
At the John Turgasen farm where Bush's motorcade stopped near Richland Center, the national news media gathered at one end of the barn, waiting for a photo opportunity. What they got was a very close view of one of Turgasen's Holsteins making a cow pie.
As the reporters and photographers complained about the odor, a White House press handler admonshed the media to "be quiet" and "show some respect."
More videotaping
La Crosse police video-taped protesters though they were peacefully demonstrating at the Radisson on Monday night, protesters said Tuesday.
Justin Miller, a member of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Progressives, said that he had understood that police would not videotape unless they were breaking the law.
