9/09/2004 10:16:00 AM|||Scott Lewis|||The motorcade that pulled into the parking lot of Lawnwood Stadium, home of the Fort Pierce High Central Cobras, was smaller than normal, without a presidential limousine.
A local TV reporter turned to her camera and recorded an urgent-sounding promo: "President Bush gets a firsthand look at the devastation from Hurricane Frances and says thank you to the workers. ... The story, coming up."
The president climbed out of an armored Chevy Suburban and took in the scene: a sports complex parking lot doing duty as a drive-through relief station for hurricane victims.
A seemingly endless line of cars snaked back onto Virginia Avenue. As each car pulled up, volunteers would reach in and hand over a bag of ice, a case of 24 bottles of water, Dunkin' Donuts and an iced coffee and a grocery bag of cereal, beef jerky, chips and mustard.
For the next 15 minutes, the people in the cars that happened to have their turns pulling up had the president of the United States and his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, lean through their open windows and hand them their supplies, along with a few consoling or encouraging words.
"How ya doin'?" the president would say, handing over a bag of ice. "God bless."
Secret Service agents looked about nervously. The leader of the free world was in the open, handing groceries to strangers. National Guardsmen stood by with rifles.
Bush's visit Wednesday afternoon was the ideal nonpolitical event in a political year. There were no campaign signs and no banners. But it was picture-perfect: the president, his sleeves rolled up, delivering supplies to grateful hurricane victims. Behind him was a larger trailer emblazoned with, "Convoy of Hope," a Missouri faith-based organization that dispenses food, water, medical supplies and more at disaster scenes around the world.
Shutters clicked, videotape rolled.
"God bless," the president said as he handed over more ice.
"It shows me he cares about our community," said Sharon Swartzel, a hospital worker who said she was thrilled to shake the president's hand.
"This has really been an incredible stop to show they are paying attention," Jamie Colby, a reporter for the Fox News Channel, said in her report.
"The president, when he got off of Marine One, shook hands with Fort Pierce Mayor Bob Benton," said a radio announcer on WPSL-AM. "I would have given anything to be a fly buzzing around there to hear what they said."
Some reporters shouted questions about Iraq. That bothered David Moore, senior director of administration for Convoy of Hope. "Those are legitimate questions," he said, "but now is not the time to ask them."
Moore got a chance to chat with the president and found him "very friendly, very personable. He's got a lot of things on his mind. But you felt you were the only person he was talking to."
Said Moore: "I heard somebody call him George - that was his brother. Everyone else called him Mr. President."
Bush, dressed in a blue checked shirt and casual slacks, handed a bag of ice to people in a battered, mud-covered Lincoln. He turned to his brother. "Fine-looking car," the president said. "I used to have one just like it."
After about 15 minutes handing out supplies, the president chatted up the volunteers, posed for pictures and signed autographs.
His entourage included a few local politicians and two would-be governors: Florida Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher and Attorney General Charlie Crist. Gallagher scored some press coverage, but Crist was recognized more often because he wore a bright-yellow polo shirt with "ATTORNEY GENERAL" stenciled in big letters on the back.
Asked if there were politics afoot, Crist repled, "Any time you can have the president of the United States come in and see firsthand what's happened, that's important to Florida. It shows he's concerned and cares about us."
About 30 minutes after Bush arrived, the press was ushered back to the motorcade, and the president got back in his armored Suburban. Next stop would be the local Emergency Operations Center, to meet with city officials and first responders.
"They're on a very tight schedule," the Fox reporter told her viewers. "I think they spent a lot more time here than they planned to."
The motorcade sped off. The endless line of cars kept filing into the parking lot at Lawnwood Stadium, the drivers inching up one-by-one, each to collect ice, water, doughnuts, beef jerky and mustard.
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