Postmortem. 22 Items from 21 Days on the Road.

F. LoBuono

Here are some observations from my three weeks on the road covering the National Conventions, most of them are empirical in nature, some trivial, all of them are mine. They are not in any particular order.

1. Cleveland is a much more "manageable" city than Philadelphia. It's more accessible and a lot cleaner. The roads are better and the drivers certainly more civil. I noticed the difference as soon as I hit the road from the airport in Philly. I've never seen more heavy trucks in the left land and more people cut 3 or 4 lanes of traffic at the last minute to get to their exit. They are cannibals.

2. It took us almost as long to get our bags at the Philadelphia International Airport as it did to fly there from Cleveland in the first place.

3. Including trips back and forth from our hotels to the work sites, we traveled over 1500 miles. And, one of the producers calculated that between our multiple broadcasting locations, we walked the equivalent of about 5 miles/day.

4. The enormous influence that the United States has on the world was readily apparent in the hundreds of reporters from every corner of the globe that attended both Conventions. However, I heard German more than any other foreign language, followed by, perhaps, Japanese.

5. The Germans always sound like they're yelling.

6. Every foreign reporter that I spoke with is confused and frightened by the prospect of a Trump presidency.

7. Every host of a Faux News (aka Fox News) traveled with a security detail. I did not notice this with any other news entity. I wonder why that was?

8. Geraldo Rivera looked old and feeble. So did Dan Rather. But, Rather IS old and feeble.

9. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is about 5' tall.

10. Greta Van Susstern is also about 5' tall and wears "mannish" suits.

11. The security in Philadelphia was MUCH more benign than it was in Cleveland. In Cleveland I had to pass my vehicle through 2 levels of security, one only a block from the other. Then it took as long as another half-hour to clear personal security. AND, they wanted to confiscate simple tools that I use, like a flashlight! I wouldn't have it and went right to the top to get clearance for it. In Philly, I never had my vehicle checked and it took only minutes to clear personal security. The City of Brotherly Love??

12. The food at the Wells Fargo Center in Philly was MUCH better than that at "The Q" in Cleveland.

13. NJ Senator, Cory Booker, is a stud. Definitely Presidential material.

14. Ann Coulter is an ass hat. She pulled a temper tantrum with one of technicians. She came into one of our broadcast booths demanding attention or she would leave in :30 seconds. We just looked at our watches until the 30 had past and she left. ;). We told her to "tell her story walking".

15. Stephen Colbert travels with an entourage of about 30 people. Producing LIVE shots for him was a pain-in-the-ass!

16. Sean Hannity is pudgy.

17. Preliminary speakers of both parties were boring as hell.

18. The Conventions should be limited to 3 days instead of 4. And, there should be at least a week's hiatus between the two.

19. The entertainment at the DNC  blew away that of the RNC.

20. The nomination of Hillary Clinton as President was as exciting a moment as I have experienced.

21. The Acela train from Philadelphia was clean and very efficient.

22. There's no place like home.

And, one last thought:

The World is Watching!