Author Archives: The Senator's Wife

About The Senator's Wife

I started this blog on a whim thinking it would be fun to write about politics while my husband served in the OK State Senate. The jury's still out on that, but having a front row seat on the sideline of Oklahoma politics has been one big adventure.

More Tales from the Trail…

June 5, 2010

The Senator’s fundraiser was fabulously fun. They always are – but that will never change the fact that I am apprehensive each and every time. I suppose in my eight years of being a Senator’s wife, I have realized that when a candidate has the support of many people, these events are enjoyable. But, when the candidate is running and not many are following…that is when they become uncomfortable…at least for me anyway.

This week, however has been full of stress. On Monday, the Senator officially filed to run for re-election. The first time he did this eight years ago, we went to the Capitol all dressed up with our children and a camera. Once we got there, we quickly realized that the check which accompanies the document had to be a cashiers check and that the official paper he was filing had to be notarized. Oops. Of course we panicked and scrambled and ran to the closest bank where these details were quickly completed.

This time around, the Senator went by himself and turned the forms in without any pomp and circumstance. No wife, no children….no camera. Meanwhile, I was at home glued to my computer, watching the screen to see who else would step up to the plate and take the Senator on….

We knew there was a lady out there on the horizon planning on challenging the Senator. We had heard about her back in March. However, this year as with every election cycle there are winds of change blowing through the electorate which will motivate various individuals to enter into public service. Eight years ago the Senator had just opened his own small business and was angry at the bureaucratic red tape that impeded economic success in our state. He had no idea who he would be running against or why, only that the incumbent had chosen to retire and the senate seat was being vacated.

This year, there is a strong anti-incumbent mood in the air………we’ll see.

Regardless, the Senator is locked and loaded and ready to continue his fight for a more prosperous future. (Just a little political rhetoric for your amusement!)

Advance

During the brief amount of time that I spent in Dallas I met some amazing people. There were former ambassadors, cabinet members, chiefs of staff, public relation guru’s and former employees of the former President of the United States. He was celebrating the groundbreaking of his Presidential Library with 3,000 of his closest friends and it seemed rather fitting that they all showed up for the party.

Prior to the ceremony, I was sitting with my sister-in-law and some of her friends from Washington D.C. in the big tent. That big one pictured below.

One of these guys worked for the former President as part of the Advance Team. I know, I know, I asked the same thing….just exactly what is Advance?

Evidently, the Advance team is made up of the people who do all the prep work before a Presidential trip. They take care of all the details and logistics and security for the President’s arrival at any given place?

Anyway, while we were waiting for the groundbreaking ceremony to start, my sister-in-law’s friend Greg, the Advance man, (pictured immediately to my right) asked us if we noticed anything wrong with the stage.

Seriously? The stage looked really nice….large….Presidential and perfect. Are you kidding me? There is nothing wrong with that stage. Really?

“Yes,” Greg said. Something was seriously wrong with the set up and ‘heads were gonna roll’ over it.

Forgive the poor quality of my Nikon Coolpix, but do you notice anything terribly incorrect?

None of us could spot it – and I was sitting with people who have been in this type of situation many times before. Thank goodness for that, but do you see it?

Just to give you an insiders perspective, it has nothing to do with the chairs (which are hard to see anyway) or with the podium.

Anyone? Anyone?

Urban Cowboy

So, last night we went to the dinner for all the Bush/Cheney Alumni – and there were a lot of them. It had a casual, western theme going with a good band, barbeque and beer…..

My sister-in-law ran into a ton of people she worked with in Washington D.C. so I pretended to be her personal paparazzi.

Until I ran into someone I knew from home and forced my sis-in-law to snap a quick photo… just to prove I was actually there.

After a while, the band that had been playing all night took a break and the crowd began to cheer. At first, I thought it was applause for their performance until I saw who was on the stage….

My little Nikon Coolpix was probably not the best choice to document the trip – but it really doesn’t matter. All politics aside, I am simply grateful for the opportunity to watch a little piece of history in the making.

Oh, and the Senator is getting sworn in today at the Capitol……