Obama visits Sarasota

OK, this was seriously one of the coolest moments of my career. After Obama spoke to a huge crowd at Ed Smith Stadium, a small group of press were invited to an "undisclosed event at an undisclosed location" at about 1:15 p.m.

After a lengthy wait aboard a charter bus, co-workers Natalie Alund and Tiffany Tompkins-Condie and I were off ... to a pumpkin patch in downtown Sarasota. The bus became the caboose of a long police escort through downtown. We reached a stopping point, the bus dropped us off and continued to the airport leaving most of us without a ride back.

We rushed out of the bus and over to a makeshift pumpkin patch where we stood, kinda waiting for a second. Then someone said, "Oh, there he is." Obama was nearby talking to a man about the pumpkins he was selling for a local church.

The two chatted for a few minutes and Obama picked out a few pumpkins, presumably for his two girls at home (the following day he was back in Chicago to spend some Halloween time with his family). You can read more about the event here. The media were taking notes and snapping photos, but we didn't have a chance to ask questions.

At one point an onlooker across the street shouted, "I voted for you!" He waved off Secret Service and invited the woman and several others over to shake hands.

Maybe the thing I'll remember most about my brush with our next president is how quiet it was. Here was a man we're used to seeing give rousing speeches before thousands of cheering people. But here, in downtown Sarasota, the street was closed to traffic and many of us who were there were a touch awestruck. You could hear Obama chitchat with the pumpkin dude. The moment was so ... still.

I stood taking notes and snapping photos with a silly grin on my face. Soon Obama was gone and Natalie and I scrambled to find some wireless Web to e-mail the news to the office while Tiffany went to get her car to bring us back.

I would loved to have asked a few questions, but that will have to wait for another time. Maybe I'll find him again at a farmer's market.