The Boys on the Bus

I flew to New Hampshire the night of the Iowa caucuses on Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's plane, after he had won. We got into Manchester after 4 a.m. and I was pretty groggy as I walked into the Homewood Suites after the press bus dropped us off. But there at the front desk was Huckabee. (Most of the reporters were staying at another hotel, and I didn't know the governor was staying at the same one I was). Huckabee was holding copies of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe and the Manchester Union Leader. His picture was, of course, on the front page of all of them. He looked at the woman at the front desk and beaming, he said "I want all four of these." He took out his wallet and handed a few dollars to the clerk, who seemed to have no idea who he was. It struck me as a very human moment, one we don't get very much on the campaign trail, a candidate acting like a normal person would at that moment: proud and excited.