A week on the campaign trail revealed interesting insights into how the campaigns of two major candidates handle logistics of getting them (and reporters) where they needed to go and how Global Positioning System devices have become their saviors. 
 
After winning Iowa and then placing third in New Hampshire, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee took a small regional jet (50 cramped seats) to South Carolina full with reporters. On board, Huckabee’s wife, Janet, served sweet tea and coffee while one of his few aides handed out breakfast biscuits. 
 
Meanwhile, rival former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney took a bigger DC-9 (which could comfortably seat up to 74) to South Carolina. But as reporters began to wonder whether his campaign was spiraling downward after he lost Iowa and New Hampshire, some left his campaign plane. Romney downgraded to a plane like Huckabee’s when he flew to Michigan from South Carolina. 
 
The differences were not limited to planes. The travels on the ground were also fraught with difficulties, particularly navigation and specifically short-staffing in the Huckabee campaign. 
 
While in Spartanburg and Greenville, S.C. with Huckabee, the press had a couple hours to burn while the candidate taped an appearance on the Comedy Central show “The Colbert Report.” We tried to find the location of the next event and a lunch spot, but the bus driver was from Atlanta and the campaign’s sole press handler had only the address. 
 
So reporters had to use their laptop computers to check maps on Google to give the bus driver directions to the location, a Christian clinic that counsels women against having abortions. 
 
We were then confronted with the prospect of finding our way to Greenville, South Carolina, where Huckabee was scheduled to play guitar with a local band called “Detour” at Furman University. That led the AP reporter on the bus, Jim Kuhnhenn, to hand me his GPS device and from there we directed the driver to a spot where a university police officer guided us to the actual site.
 
While the Romney campaign was more organized on the ground with a large contingent of advance staff to shepherd reporters to events, they too had some challenges with directions.
 
While reporters were covering a speech by Romney, the bus driver went to buy a GPS device to help him navigate our way around Michigan. Sadly, that still didn’t prevent the bus from missing the highway exit the next day as we headed to a rally just outside Detroit. 

The Romney campaign was better at handling the charter flights for staff and reporters, booking hotel rooms and dealing with mounds of luggage and meals.
 
In comparison, the Huckabee campaign had some initial trouble informing reporters of the schedule, let alone the name of a good hotel nearby. But now as more reporters have come on board, they have a few more staff and logistics seem to have improved.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

– Photo credits: Reuters/John Gress (Romney getting off his chartered plane in Detroit), Chris Keane (Huckabee playing guitar with local band “Detour” in Greenville, S.C.)