Former President Clinton had wrapped up 15 minutes of hand-shaking along the rope-line and ducked behind the burgundy curtain wall after his University of Montana speech when the little guys turned on the magnetism.
“Someone yelled, ‘Baby, baby,' and he totally came back,” said Terry Miller, who was holding 7-month-old Maizy Miller up for a presidential hug.
Clinton pulled a second curtain call, literally poking his head through the fabric at the side of the Adams Center auxiliary gym to spend five more minutes well-wishing. The crowd was politely enthusiastic during his hour-and-10-minute speech, but went into full celebrity mode as soon as he left the podium.
“I saw Sargent Shriver when he was George McGovern's running mate (in 1972),” said Bill Clark, a Missoulian sporting a Barack Obama button on his jacket. “That's the last time Missoula had anyone this important come to visit.”
This year, Clark got to see Sen. Hillary Clinton during her April visit and narrowly missed seeing Obama the same weekend. The level of political energy was encouraging, he said.
“After preaching for 40 years that the young people and the low-income people are the ones who've got to go vote, I'm finally feeling vindicated,” Clark said. “I'm definitely an Obama voter, but if things were different, I'd be voting for her.”
Sam Orr was one of the lucky few who got to exchange words with Bill Clinton. The Washington Middle School sixth-grader worked his way through the scrum and reminded the president that he'd sent the Orr family a card on the birth of his baby sister.
“He said, ‘Oh, yeah, I think I did,' ” Orr said, wiggling his hand like it tingled. “I shook his hand like, 10 times. He was just two feet away.”
“He can make you feel like you're the only person in the world,” said Sam's mother, Susan Orr. The official audience count was 1,100 people, and Clinton was happy to pose for photos with many of them as well as shake hands.
Clinton said he thought he was doing Tuesday night's audience in Kalispell a favor by cutting his speech short after many of them had endured pouring rain to hear him.
“But then I had to shake hands for an hour and a half in the rain,” he said. “They asked me all the questions about all the subjects I didn't talk about in the speech.”
In Missoula, rain prompted University of Montana authorities to open the doors a bit before the scheduled 9:15 a.m. seating time. University Relations director Rita Munzenrider said the official count at the end of the gathering was 1,100, although several observers estimated it at closer to 700.
Nicki Clyde drove in from St. Regis on family business but took time to hear Clinton. She was sitting on the bottom row of the low gym bleachers, her view of the stage blocked by hundreds of standing fans.
“It's OK,” Clyde said. “It's a rally - we'll all stand up.”
Clyde described herself as a committed Democrat but an undecided primary voter.
“I'm just glad that Hillary has not thrown in the towel, as some in the party have told her to do,” she said. “I admire that tenacious quality in her. That's what makes politics exciting - the unknown. It's not just set out like a meal you have to eat.”
Nine-year-old Trevor Nei was adding the Clinton visit to an already extensive political education this spring. He'd seen both Hillary Clinton and Obama on their visits, and got to shake Hillary Clinton's hand.
“I listen to what they say,” he said of his speech-grading method. “You've got to get a crowd excited to make people willing to vote for you.”
Nei said he thought Hillary Clinton did a better job of that than Obama did in April. After Bill Clinton's speech Wednesday, he gave the former president an “A” but added that “he didn't really excite everybody. He was talking very clearly, though.”
Other, official students of political science included a clutch of soon-to-be first-time voters from Hellgate High School. Dylan White was celebrating his 18th birthday at the rally.
“I think I come with a pretty unbiased view,” White said. “It's important to get an idea of what kind of person they are. I want to see what kind of approach Bill is going to take - is he going to cover the issues or try to appease the Montana electorate?”
Portable sawmill owner Ralph Pearson also was focused on the issues, and happy to see Sen. Clinton staying in the race.
“She's just got to stand firm on the basics she's talked about,” Pearson said. “I'm an outdoors enthusiast, and she's got to let us know that she's not going to take our guns away.”
Clinton's pre-speech soundtrack was similar to the playlist Obama used in his Missoula visit, including U2's “City of Blinding Lights.” But he also played a couple of pointed Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers tunes: “I Won't Back Down” and “American Girl.” Shortly before he came on stage, it was Journey's “Don't Stop Believin'. ”
“It's got to be nostalgic,” UM Music School graduate Ty Lundman said of the music choices. “You're trying to recall good times. We tend to remember things in a rose-colored way, so if the music reminds you of fun, safe times, it's pretty successful.”
Reporter Rob Chaney can be reached at 523-5382 or at rchaney@missoulian.com.
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