The idea isn't that far-fetched.
Last fall, the University of Montana student government senator was in the right place at the right time when a UM official tapped him on the shoulder and casually asked if he was busy on Sept. 4.
The answer: “Can you chauffeur Sen. John Edwards around during his Missoula visit?”
Gosline jumped at the opportunity to drive the would-be Democratic presidential nominee around in a Chevy Impala, and said the day
was one of the highlights of his UM experience.
Now, he's angling for another chauffeur job, if one comes available this weekend.
“It doesn't matter who it is - if it's Hillary or Barack,” Gosline said. “If I could talk to presidential candidates all year, I would. I have so many questions.”
Because he is a finance major, Gosline said his first question to either presidential candidate “would be something along the lines of how do they envision eradicating the deficit we
are in.”
“With Hillary, I'd love to talk to her about her health care policy and how to set up a national health care system,” he said. “And for both of them, I'd ask about environmental issues - like how are we going to go about searching for alternative fuels.”
As chauffeur to at least one political star, Gosline said the job comes with unprecedented access - and given his perfect driving record with the last “job,” he believes he's the perfect candidate for any opening that may arise this weekend.
Of his last gig, Gosline said he learned a lot about Edwards, and was impressed by the former North Carolina senator.
“He's a down-to-earth guy who doesn't want anything flashy - it was really important to him that he was driven around in an American-made car.”
As he drove Edwards from the Missoula airport to UM, then to a private fundraiser in the Rattlesnake and back to the airport, the two chatted about college life.
“I liked him,” Gosline said. “I told him my family was blue-collar workers and I assured him he had their votes.”
“It was a great day,” he said. “It would be so cool to be asked to do it again.”
In the neighborhood
Former President Bill Clinton kicks off Montana's week of political visits on Tuesday with stops in Havre, Great Falls, Helena and Butte, hoping to boost wife Hillary Clinton's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, who are locked in a tight race for the nomination, will be in Butte on Saturday night for the annual Mansfield-Metcalf Democratic Party dinner. Clinton will be in Missoula Sunday morning for a fundraiser at the Hilton Garden Inn.
Still up in the air: a possible Obama visit to Missoula on Saturday afternoon, before the dinner in Butte, and a public event by Clinton before she leaves the Garden City on Sunday afternoon.
For full coverage of Montana's week in the political limelight, watch the Missoulian and Missoulian.com.
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